CAPC collections expectedly down

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Per the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission’s request, Finance Director Rick Bright provided an amended budget with an offering of additional expense cuts totaling $100,000 at the June 24 meeting. These cuts were discussed but placed on the backburner to ascertain the revenue position as the summer progresses.

The budget was previously cut in May by $390,600 or 24.5 percent. Commissioners continue to wrestle with the question of whether this cut will be enough, especially after receiving the June financial report.

That report, reflecting April and May collections, indicated that restaurant revenue was down by 73.8 percent or $44,368, and lodging revenue was hit even harder at 92.5 percent below last year’s revenue, a loss of $54,772.

Mixing in these monthly losses with the rest of the year, Bright provided a less distressing year-to-date collection position of 23.5 percent loss in restaurant collections, and 30.4 percent loss in lodging for the first half of 2020.

Overall for the first part of the year, the CAPC is down by 26.6 percent in total tax collections. As of May 31, the CAPC reports $310,314 in reserve funds.

Commissioners said they want to discuss the Executive Director position at the next workshop. Currently Gina Rambo is holding the interim position. There was discussion on changing that title to Administrator since current ad agency duties are provided to the CAPC by Paradise Advertising.

Paradise has provided the CAPC with what it promised, and commissioners indicated that they have no intent to cut that budget. Rambo said that staff is working with Paradise to continue Eureka’s new branding, including the utilization of the new Eureka Springs logo.

CAPC logo hijacked?

Commissioner Susan Harman stated that she has seen several different variations of the logo reproduced by other local entities. “It’s our logo and it should not be changed,” she said. Rambo responded that she had not assisted anyone in facilitating changes to the logo and does not know how it’s being changed.

Harman said she believed that the altered logos are coming from city hall. “We paid for that logo and we need to protect it if we are going to put all this effort and all this money into doing this,” she said. Harman said she has received calls about the altered logo and said, “We have to have a consistent logo.”

Rambo said that one organization that took the logo and altered it is the Parks Commission. Harman said to Rambo, “The only thing I would ask you to do is to get that fixed.”

The next meeting is a workshop scheduled for Wednesday, July 8 at 4 p.m. in the Auditorium.