The city's advertising and promotion commission, named Discover Bella Vista, met to discuss some of the commission's groundwork and a 2018 budget on Thursday, Dec. 21.
The commission considered a budget which, based on its first few months of receiving tax funds, had a projected income for 2018 of $187,009, primarily from the 1 percent prepared food tax, which is expected to provide $153,679 of that amount.
The commission is expected to pay 3 percent of that to the city to cover collections, record keeping and financial reporting, and another 10 percent to cover the labor the city pays economic development manager Travis Stephens and communications manager Cassi Lapp.
Twenty percent will be added to the commission's cash reserves; an estimated $12,000 will be paid to a consulting and advertising firm; $1,830 will be paid to advertise in the Arkansas Travel Guide; another $1,500 is expected to go to the Northwest Arkansas Tourism Association Visitor's Guide; $10,500 will be spent on membership dues for different associations; $5,544 is budgeted for technology, including web hosting, a monthly blog and email newsletter and search engine optimization; and $3,935 is expected to be spent on training, travel and subscriptions.
This leaves $88,987 for 2018.
"We thought it was a good place to start," said Stephens.
Commissioner and city council member Doug Fowler said there's no full-year history yet and it's impossible to say what the exact numbers will be, so the commission should make decisions carefully and try to achieve maximum impact.
"We're going to have to be very targeted in what we do," he said. "We aren't going to be able to be all things to all people."
This commission, he said, is a good chance for the city to promote events and show what the city has.
The commission's chair, Paula Sanders, said she sees value in focusing some of these funds into the commission's website and social media to build a presence.
"We really can't have a website out there that we're not doing anything with," she said. "It's going to take a while for people to realize what we've got, so I think the sooner we start the better."
Commissioner Ben Biesenthal said that he outsources social media work for his business, Gusano's Pizza, and it costs very little in relation to what he gains from it.
"I would say we'd be stupid not to spend some sort of money on something because you have to have a baseline," he said.
Another important consideration, he said, was communication with the businesses from which the commission is collecting taxes. He's felt frustrated, he said, with other commissions, which often appear not to be doing much, or seem to be focusing their efforts on specific businesses. This may not be the case, he said, but it needs to be communicated so people don't feel like they're collecting a tax for no benefit or for the benefit of others.
Knowing the commission is working to bring in business, he said, makes the tax far easier to swallow.
"That makes all the money that we spend worth it."
The commission also considered potential meeting times and settled on 3 p.m. the fourth Thursday of each month at city hall.
The commission also looked at events for 2018, considered a contract with the city, approved a logo and mission statement and considered the need for legal representation.
General News on 12/27/2017