TIFTON — Several items were discussed at a recent Tifton City Council workshop/called meeting. The hot topic of the night was the contract with the Tifton-Tift County Tourism Association with regards to a potential increase in the hotel/motel tax.

City Manager Larry Riner reminded the council that in April, during their council retreat, they received information from a law firm that went over the hotel/motel laws, and the council was directed to get in compliance with the state law.

He noted that this information will be presented to the Tourism Association for their review. City Attorney Rob Wilmot told the council, “We do need to get the contract in place.”

He advised that the hotel/motel money has to be spent by the Tourism Board within the fiscal year (contract period — July 1 through June 30, 2013). Any unexpended money is reported to the city. According to the contract, the Tourism Association will provide services of tourism, conventions and trade shows through planning, conducting, and participating in programs of information and publicly designed to attract or advertise tourism, conventions and trade shows. Payment of the funds from the city to the Tourism Board will be a sum based on two percent of the five percent tax collected from the hotel/motel tax in accordance with Code Section 48-13-51(a)(3) of the O.C.G.A.

The contract states the method of payment will be “periodic, base payment in monthly amounts, beginning on July 1, based on hotel/motel tax collections received.”

Wilmot said the main concern is the understanding of how the money will be spent. He stated that this is unclear.

“It’s important that we have a budget,” he noted. “It needs to be specific enough.”

Wilmot added that the city is liable for how the money is spent by the Tourism Board; funds must be spent appropriately according to the law. He stated that going forward, they need to make sure they’re all on the same page.

After much discussion, Wilmot stated, “I think we can certainly work with the Tourism Board going forward for the benefit of the whole community.”

Currently, there’s a five percent hotel/motel tax (two percent goes to the Tourism Association and three percent goes to the city) and a seven percent sales tax — 12 percent tax total. The city is possibly considering raising that five percent hotel/motel tax — the maximum they can raise it is three percent.

Councilwoman Julie Smith explained to The Gazette that the city uses the three percent that they receive from the five percent tax to pay for various activities to enhance tourism, such as the lighting on Interstate 75, the paving of Boo Drive and improvements to the Henry Tift Myers Airport.

“They enhance the look of the community for tourists and make Tifton a more desirable area to come,” she stated, noting that they’re looking at various ways to make Tifton stand out.

Smith noted that an additional three percent to the five percent hotel/motel tax can be used for many activities to enhance tourism, including festivals, concerts, the Tifton Theatre and other special events.

She said she and the council want to generate funds, but they also want to be mindful of what this potential increase would have on travelers and local hotels, adding that they too want “heads on beds.”

She also mentioned that the old legislation on the hotel/motel tax for the state of Georgia has changed. The “old money,” as Smith called it to differentiate, focused more on advertising and marketing. The “new money” focuses more on product development there’s more flexibility.

In addition to having the new legislation, Smith said one of the aspects is that it allows for them to put some of the money towards restoring the historic Myon Hotel. She stated that heritage tourism focuses on historic buildings.

Smith said a Historic Downtown District draws tourists to a town also. She stated that the city is looking at possibly using some of the tourism money to get the Myon Hotel full of people again.

She said, “It’s a landmark of Tifton, it houses the city arts collection and the money could be used for part of the restoration cost. We recognize that we have to get that building restored and full again, because it’s historic and a landmark.”

Smith stated that the Myon Hotel could be a recipient of tourism dollars. She noted that in order to help with restoring the hotel, the money would have to come from the potential increase in the hotel/motel tax.

However, she noted that this was only an idea the council had.

“It’s not what we’re going to do, but we’re looking at it,” she said.

During the workshop, Smith and councilwoman Marianna Keesee mentioned that they were invited to lunch to speak with members of the Tift Area Hospitality Association (TAHA) — made up of local hotel/motel owners, and some members of the Tourism Association — made up of two representatives from TAHA, two representatives appointed by the city, two by the county and one by the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce. Smith noted that these members are volunteers. She said Tyron Spearman, who is the coordinator for the Tourism Association, is the only paid staff who handles the day-to-day work for the organization.

Keesee and Smith discussed some of the ideas that they had, as well as some of the concerns that came up during the meeting with the TAHA/tourism members.

According to their notes, the main concerns were lack of trust of local government, lack of understanding of how tourism dollars can and should be spent and lack of communication between the Tourism Association and city. The city is responsible to the state for collection and proper disbursement of funds.

Also, they discussed what is a ‘tourist’ and how do they identify them, make an impression and get them back. In addition, they talked about the financial impact on “stakeholders” — businesses who depend on travelers for their income.

Smith stated that the Tourism Association has done an excellent job with recreation/sports tournaments initiatives; however, other activities should be considered — golf, fishing, hunting, minor league and/or pro sports, etc. She stated that sports are just “one piece of the big picture.”

Other activities that should be considered to complete the circle are Eco or Agri tourism, heritage tourism, festivals, arts tourism, junking/antiquing and capitalizing on Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Moultrie Technical College and high school graduation weekends.

In addition to these opportunities to enhance tourism, Smith and Keesee advised that overnight guests boost business for any food service, any attraction or event, most retail sales and transportation.

Smith said the city wants to work with, not against, tourism efforts; be proactive in working to create programs that will fill hotel rooms, restaurants and shops throughout all of Tifton, not just I-75 and Highway 82 West; and facilitate, not regulate, a broad based tourism effort that will encompass all aspects of tourism.

Keesee told council members that TAHA/tourism members were not in favor of the tax increase. She said the members felt that consumers check to see how much the local hotel/motel tax is and will travel to another city nearby if the tax is lower there. However, she stated that the members said if the council does decide to increase the tax, they would prefer that it only increase one percent instead of the maximum three percent.

Smith added that she asked the members that if the council does decide to raise the tax only one percent, would they bring something in to get people off the interstate and into Tifton — raise awareness about what’s going on in town.

“Instead of collecting a little bit of three percent, let’s collect a lot of one percent,” she suggested.

She told the council that the TAHA/tourism members were very open.

“I felt like the meeting was very positive,” she said, adding that the council needs to sit down with the tourism group.

Also, Smith noted that she and Keesee, along with Riner, Wilmot and Mayor Jamie Cater met with some tourism members to update them on regulations that the city has to follow. She said Cater, Riner and councilman Chris Parrott recently met with additional members as well.

“We’re still looking and evaluating,” she told The Gazette. “Nothing has been set in stone yet. I think the consensus is we all want Tifton to be the best it can be. We’re looking at every option and want to be responsible as possible. There’s a lot we have to offer. We need to facilitate, not regulate, to do what we need to do for tourism to fill hotel rooms — it trickles out to the rest of the town.”



To contact reporter Latasha Everson, call 382-4321.