Tourism board reports increase in visitors to area, considers budget

"Visitors were up this summer," Pat Chambers, I.M.P.A.C.T. Nevada Tourism chairman, said during a special tourism committee meeting Tuesday night to consider their 2008 budget recommendations.

However, even with an increase in visitors, the estimate for income generated by the city's 3 percent motel tax that funds the city's efforts to attract new visitors to Nevada is down.

Chambers told the committee that the city is estimating that the motel tax for this year will run about $58,500.

The 46 fewer available beds, due to the closing of the Econolodge last winter, cut into the amount of tax collected.

That reduction in tax money collected by Nevada motels caused the tourism board Tuesday night to cut their proposed $96,260 budget for 2008 by about $5,500.

The $96,260 budget includes $30,000 accumulated over the last eight years for new wayfinding signs in Nevada, leaving $66,200 of operating funds to absorb the cuts. The signs were designed in 2007 and will be installed in 2008.

"We'll be the only town of this size to have this kind of signs," Kathi Wysong, Nevada-Vernon County Chamber of Commerce director, said.

This cutback in spending by the tourism committee will impact several annual projects, including the Cottey Picnic, Champion Diamonds, the Tournament of Champions NBC qualifying tournament as well as cuts in the matching tourism grants awarded each winter.

According to their proposed budget the Cottey Picnic will receive $500 less, Champion Diamonds is slated for a $1,000 reduction in its $6,000 line item to cover part of the USSSA tournament sanctioning fees and the Tournament of Champion is looking at having its grant reduced from $6,000 to $2,000, largely because it did not fill enough beds during 2007.

The tournament was rained out.

However, the biggest blow will be to the matching tourism grants, which will have the total amount of grants issued reduced from $15,000 in 2007 to $6,440 in 2008.

This cut, which started with a cut to $7,500, was largely because a number of the grants did not fill local motel rooms and the grant recipient was not rigorous in having attendees fill out survey cards to document what they did and where they stayed while in Nevada.

Chambers said that when the group starts judging tourism grant applications for 2008, members will need to go back to the original intent of the grants to fill motel beds during the off-peak season that runs from September through March.

"In the past we had gotten a little loose, but now we need to go back and stick to the criteria we set up nine years ago," he said.

The budget retains the $25,000 to employ a full-time tourism coordinator, which none of the committee members want to do without.

Chambers said that making these budget cuts is not easy.

"However, as painful as it is, it's making us come back to our original criteria."