City Advertising and Promotion Commission’s Wednesday, Jan. 14 workshop was a review of a draft of the 2026 budget, which will need to be approved at the CAPC’s regular meeting on Jan. 28.
The 2026 budget sees a very slight total decrease to $2,100,000 from the 2025 budget of $2,106,000 with items in the budget moving around for the year. Finance Director Ty Reed said that the Auditorium rental fee had been decreased as the CAPC intends to host more shows in the Aud from inhouse efforts rather than through promoters. This is also the reason why the budget for in-house ticket sales is at $40,000, and talent costs have gone up to $160K.
Of the $2,100,000 budget, $1,160,000 of collections is from food and beverage and the other $940,000 is from lodging, with the budget balanced toward being a net-0 budget. Notably, 2025’s lodging budget was $980,000 with actual collections at $958,362 showing that the 2026 budget for lodging collections is expected to be down 4.1 percent.
Commissioner Heather Wilson asked about the agreement between the city and the CAPC over the Auditorium came up in conversation. Tourism Director Mike Maloney explained the CAPC will continue to be the occupants of the building, maintaining it up to $65,000 in repairs per year. After that amount, the city will need to step in to assist in costs which, depending on the cost, may require vote by city council. The CAPC will provide upkeep and planning of use of the facility as well as pay utilities.
Wilson voiced concern about the possibility when repairs to the Aud exceed that $65,000 and that when the CAPC would need money to keep the Aud functioning that it will “not likely going to be an easy, pleasant conversation,” referring to speaking with council. She noted past troubles with the HVAC system and plumbing among other maintenance problems for the Aud. She said it was wonderful the CAPC has kept the building alive, but she does not “feel that the partnership with the city has been appropriate up until this point” due to the condition of the building. Commissioner Coltan Scrivner also noted in the agreement with the city that the CAPC is not allowed to make changes, improvements, or alterations without allowance by the city.
Maloney said staff feels “we’re on an uptick for good” and reassured commissioners to not accept the “misappropriations” of the past as what will happen in the future.
At the start of the meeting Wilson also asked if merit raises should be included in the budget. She acknowledged that Eureka Springs is a small city and that while money is not “infinite” that the CAPC does “have enough money to pay our staff competitively.”
Reed noted that last year’s budget had been planned as a negative one (this is majorly due to the CAPC assisting in the restoration of Basin Park which many of its events use as a focal point), and that he and Maloney had worked hard to work the budget with not much extra funds to move around. Maloney suggested that the mid-year budget review would be a good time to revisit the topic, noting his own contract will be up for review