CAPC Finance Director Rick Bright announced the year-to-date totals indicate collections through the end of June are two percent below collections for the same period in 2016. McClung commented the city is in its bread-and-butter months, and revenue is not what was expected. “We’re lucky to be close to par,” he said.
Duling expected July number to be good, not huge. Maloney pointed out the collections were being compared to 2016, a banner year, and the rest of this year could be good. Bright said expenses on media buys was $42,000 less than budgeted which indicates they are already being careful with expenses.
Director’s report
Mike Maloney announced Lucinda Williams would be the headliner at this year’s Folk Festival to be held November 3 – 4. He also mentioned Events Coordinator Andy Green has had meetings with interested locals gathering ideas to upgrade the Folk Festival in years to come. The CAPC will have a booth at next year’s International Folk Festival in Kansas City to exchange information with agencies, producers and talent.
Maloney played two 15-second videos focused around the theme of a staycation in Eureka Springs aimed at folks nearby.
He announced Allen, Texas, and St. Joseph, Mo., joined the usual group of cities looking at Eureka Springs ads online.
Because of “an anomaly,” Maloney said the launch of the Eureka Springs app is now scheduled for late August.
Maloney introduced the idea of offering a weekend getaway every other month. The details could be worked out to make the give-away fair for local businesses. Harman commented, “Several of us would be willing to participate.”
He also proposed a city-wide scavenger hunt as a lure to bring visitors to town. The idea would be to give away a few things, draw people to town and then retarget them to keep them coming back.
Maloney mentioned not every merchant in town always presents a happy face to visitors, so the Arkansas Department of Tourism will be helping the CAPC put on free hospitality courses at the Auditorium Sept. 5-6. Courses will be at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5, and at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 6. He said frontline staff and management are encouraged to attend.
Other Bright items
- Bright introduced his version of a contract whereby Airbnb agreed to voluntarily “facilitate the reporting, collection and remittance of applicable transient occupancy taxes.” The commission will consider the document at the next workshop.
- Bright also presented information regarding Automated Clearing House, an online network for financial transactions. Bright said using ACH would make it easier for collectors to pay online with a check. This idea will also be on the next workshop agenda.
Next workshop will be Wednesday, August 23, at 4 p.m., at the CAPC office.