After several eventful summer sessions — including a month-long discussion about panhandling — Urbana City Council has taken the last two weeks off.

But there will still be plenty more to discuss when it comes back.

One of the big issues the city council has dealt with over the past few months is funding for the Champaign County Convention & Visitors Bureau, or CVB, an organization that promotes tourism and tourism-related industries in Champaign-Urbana.

It receives funding from Champaign County, the cities of Champaign and Urbana, Savoy and the University, but Urbana decided to cut back its funding drastically.

The original budget allotted about $72,000 to the CVB, but Mayor Laurel Prussing, searching for ways to fund two new police officers hired in Urbana, made a line-item veto on the budget, striking the city’s funding for the CVB to nothing.

A compromise was eventually reached, and the bureau is now being funded at a baseline level of about $18,000, but several council members said the amount could go up.

Brandon Bowersox, Ward 4, said he supports funding the CVB at the full $72,000.

On the other hand, Prussing has said in many council meetings she believes the bureau provides little or no benefit to Urbana.

She also said the bureau exaggerates its effectiveness and takes credit for what other organizations have done.

This has been one of the few issues that truly divides the city council, which is usually unanimous.

The hotel and motel industry, however, are united behind the bureau, as many managers and owners have spoken at city council meetings in its support.

Another significant deal recently approved by both city councils was to install fiber-optic cables that will give the area more access to broadband Internet.

“The goal is to get faster, cheaper Internet to about 150 locations: schools, public libraries, fire stations (and social service agencies) … especially in underserved neighborhoods,” Bowersox said.