Rotary 4th of July Fireworks funding approved by one vote

 


Last year the Rotary 4th of July Fireworks request for tourism tax funding passed by only one vote. Wednesday, the vote was again 3-2 by the City of Alva Tourism Tax Committee even though Rotary asked for less than half of what they requested in 2021. This year they asked for $5,000 while last year they were granted $12,500.

A major concern raised by Terri Parsons is that the fireworks display does not attract overnight visitors to Alva. Most of those attending are from the local area and return to their homes after the show. Since the tourism tax is levied on rentals of motel and hotel rooms, the event does not return any monies to the tax fund.

John Ryerson and Jesse Kline spoke on behalf of Rotary. Ryerson said Rotary used to have 30 to 40 members but their numbers have dwindled to half that in the last few years. “We are here because we need the money,” he said.

Kline pointed out that Rotary asked for $12,500 last year and only $5,000 this year although this year’s fireworks are costing $12,500. Rotary is unable to provide daytime activities, but the Little Red Hens and the police department are scheduling events all day. The budget for the event indicates expenses totaling $13,000 with $8,000 to be paid by donations from businesses and fundraisers.

Connor Martin made a motion to approve the $5,000 funding request. There was silence as no one seemed inclined to second so Chairman Norville Ritter asked for a second. Scott Kline provided the second. The motion passed 3-2 with Melinda Barton and Parsons voting no.

Nescatunga Golf Tournament

Larry Harmon appeared on behalf of the Alva Golf and Country Club to request $6,000 for the Nescatunga Golf Tournament, set for July 8-10. The tournament begins with a practice round on Friday and continues into Sunday.

Harmon said last year they had 42 teams although they can handle a maximum of 44. Each team is made up of four people, some local and some from out of town. He said they usually expect about 50 out-of-town golfers to enter and many bring their spouses. The $6,000 requested would pay for a banquet and extra labor. The remaining expenses are paid by entry fees and golf cart fees.

Connor Martin made a motion, seconded by Kline, to approve the $6,000 request, and it passed unanimously.

Finances

Angelica Brady, former city business manager, filled in for Chamber Director Jodie Bradford who was involved in her wedding preparations.

Local hotels, motels, bed and breakfast locations, and air BNB’s are expected to assess Alva’s tourism tax when they rent rooms. Those taxes are to be paid quarterly to the City of Alva. Looking at the report of collections, Parsons asked who is responsible for the motels paying. Brady said ultimately it is the city.

Those paying taxes are listed by number. Parsons noted Hotel 12 made quarterly payments in FY20-21 but in FY21-22, they skipped the first quarter and then paid in the second and had not yet paid in the March 31 third quarter. She said the second quarter payment did not look like it included more than one quarter.

Brady said the city doesn’t have much recourse in collecting the tourism tax. She said they’ve discussed having the Oklahoma Tax Commission collect because they have more clout. Doing that would require a change in the tourism tax ordinance. Committee members indicated they’d like to pursue that further.

The May financial report showed $615,519.94 cash in the bank. Subtracting funding commitments that have been approved but not paid, the committee had $380,039.94 available as of May 31.

Chamber Requests Annual Commitment

With the fiscal year beginning July 1, the Alva Chamber of Commerce needs action on their proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) committing the Tourism Tax Committee to an annual funding plan to be paid quarterly to the Chamber.

Dr. Kay Decker who has been working with the Chamber for about a year doing strategic planning presented the MOU at the April 27 tourism meeting. At the May 18 meeting, the MOU was discussed with no action. The June 22 agenda called for discussion and action.

Although Bradford was absent, Decker expected to be at the meeting to answer questions. She was unable to attend due to being quarantined for exposure to Covid, but she was willing to answer questions by phone. Parsons objected, saying she wanted someone present to answer questions not by phone.

Representing the Chamber at the meeting were Megan Lehr, Emma Cline who works for the Chamber in marketing, and Patricia Coday who provides bookkeeping services to the Chamber. Tourism Committee member Martin is also on the Chamber board as past-president.

Parsons suggested moving the discussion to a later date, but with her wedding set for the weekend and a honeymoon trip to follow, Bradford won’t be available until the first week of July. Coday said the Chamber could not wait that long because they need funds to pay salaries. She said normally salaries are paid the first of the month with website fees and taxes due about the 15th.

Coday said the MOU salaries are $750 per month for Bradford to act as secretary for the Tourism Committee and $750 per month for staffing of the visitors’ center. Lehr said that was the same as before.

Committee members questioned that. Eventually it was determined from past minutes that the visitors’ center staffing had been increased to $9,000 per year in September 2021. However, there was no record of an increase for Tourism Committee secretary which has been $6,000 per year.

Brady said both are paid from the tourism tax fund. The committee secretary salary has not been increased by the committee, and it is not something they approve each year. The tourism tax ordinance states the committee will pay the Chamber for a secretary to keep their minutes and handle other paperwork. In the proposed MOU, that is increased to $9,000 per year.

Parsons continued to say she had questions for Bradford. She suggested committee members look at the VisitAlvaOK.org website, the Alva page on Red Carpet Country’s website and other social media, indicating she was disappointed in the lack of updates. Lehr said the Chamber has had difficulty getting passwords for the website and Facebook from outside parties.

“It’s important we be good stewards of tourism money,” said Parsons. She expressed concern that the MOU request for $43,000 is about 40 percent of total tourism tax collected in FY20-21 ($108,055).

Ritter asked if the committee wanted to approve one piece of the MOU to help the Chamber through July. He said even if they approved the entire MOU, it would have to go before the city council for approval because it is above the $25,000 spending limit. Their next regular meeting isn’t until July 18.

It was suggested they approve one month of each of the salaries which would be $750 plus $500. Coday asked if they could make it two months.

Eventually, Ritter made a motion to approve $2,500 (two months of salaries) with the committee to revisit the MOU at the next meeting. Parsons seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

Delivering Agendas, Minutes

In final discussion, the committee discussed a request from the Chamber to have meeting agendas and minutes delivered electronically instead of Bradford having to deliver large notebooks to the committee members.

Parsons objected saying she can’t read small type on her cellphone, and that’s her only connection. She asked if the meeting packets could be printed out so committee members could pick them up and was assured they could. She asked if she could be notified by text or phone call to pick up her packet because that’s how she remembers when meetings are scheduled. She was told committee members will be notified by email with a link to the meeting packets.

The committee members agreed the digital delivery or picking up packets at the Chamber office was acceptable. No action was needed.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Arc
Newsgram

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024