The City Advertising and Promotion Commission workshop on Wednesday, March 11, focused on the possibility of retail returning to assessing the CAPC tax in some amount. With this being a workshop, there was no voting.
Commissioner David Avanzino led the discussion explaining that state tax submissions the city receives, as well as local taxes there is indication that tourism dollars are decreasing. He said you can already see it in lodging and restaurants, and the CAPC is in charge of marketing the entire city while only receiving lodging and restaurant tax input. He said in a previous council budget workshop that retail had shown a significant increase over last year. He noted that previously the CAPC tax was charged at 2 percent for lodging, restaurant, and retail and he said his concern is that with increasing prices at the pump, the amount of tourist dollars coming to town will decrease and how the CAPC can offset that downward trend.
Conversation focused on the idea that the tax would be brought down to around the 2 percent mark (though no permanent decision could be made at a workshop). The commission noted they didn’t have an exact dollar amount and the CAPC budget might change with a retail tax, so they wanted to bring in city Finance Director Michael Akins to clarify.
Tourism Director Mike Maloney made note that the city has fewer rooms than years past as owners are converting to long-term rentals. He said available room count per day is around 800 compared to 2016 when it was 1,800. Maloney said room count in town has decreased and out of town has increased, and the CAPC can’t spend its way to success if the inventory is not there.
Maloney said on that in 2007 there was a period when taxes were at 2 percent for all three. He noted that there was pressure on council to repeal the tax, and it was. He said businesses in the past had gathered and argued that they didn’t serve tourists but mostly locals, arguing that the CAPC tax at the time did not serve them. Avanzino voiced disagreement with that sentiment.
Conversation bounced back and forth on what the budget may look like with tax changes, what data the CAPC needed to have an informed discussion, including actual numbers on retail remittance for the city, and the want for public involvement in this conversation even if it’s not in support of tax changes.
Avanzino suggested that the CAPC should hold more public meetings specifically on the possibility of a retail tax. He asked that staff highly publicize any future discussions and workshops on this. The CAPC intends to so that at the April 15 workshop.
The second item on the workshop was the update on the secretary/treasurer position. Commissioner Heather Wilson’s concern that if she is voted in as the secretary and her term ends in June, she would not be able to necessarily serve the whole year term. An option includes that a staffer takes over the secretary position of providing minutes. Wilson noted that she is unsure if she will be trying to stay on the CAPC after her current term ends.