HomeMy WebLinkAboutM070108
LTAC Meeting, 7-1-08
10:00 a.m. at Jefferson County Courthouse, members attending were John
Austin, William Tennent, Jamie Hodgson, Debi Bainbridge, Joy Baisch.
Others attending were Dennis Richards, Allen Sartin, Kitti deLong.
Bill Tennent moved to approve the minutes of December 4, 2007, Jamie
Hodgson seconded, motion passed unanimously.
Review of Budget of 2008
Allen Sartin presented an historical “Summary of Actuals.” Allen stated we have
been seeing in the general sales tax an erratic pattern, with only 0.77% growth.
He is interested to see what will happen this summer with the ferry difficulties and
during the bridge closure. Debi asked if there was any kind of an auditing trail for
Chambers. Dennis stated there was a section of the state statute that now
requires a detailed follow-up. Joy asked for a copy of the excerpt covering
expenditures of Lodging Tax funds. Allen made copies and distributed.
There was discussion about Capital Facilities guidelines and how expenditures in
that category varies between Chambers. Joy stated that Homeland Security
requires that the Forest Service have two people on premises at all times in order
to be open. The Forest Service has had substantial cutbacks and does not have
anyone on premises on the weekend. In order for South County Chamber to be
open, they must cover the expense of a second person. Discussion.
There was discussion about the Gateway Visitor’s Center and who should be
supporting the expense of that facility. The Ordinances establishing LTAC for the
County and for the City are separate, as are the monies. The distribution
recommendation is on pages 3 of 4 in the Ordinance. Discussion about where to
place the South County Chamber’s budget. Discussion about possibly changing
the Ordinance to match what we are really doing. It was decided that we will
change the Ordinance before 2009 and distribute that information early enough
that the Chambers can be on-board.
Jamie requested that each entity submit their budgets in the same format. With
that in mind, we will design a format for submitting budgets that supports the
state requirements. Discussion about how to do the accounting and tracking of
monies spent. John suggested keeping the suggested percentage for Capital
Facilities, but take off the suggested percentages for the other categories. Jamie
suggested that we figure out the percentages and then clarify for use in the
Ordinance.
Capital Facilities is the only category that is allowed to accumulate and can then
be continued to the next year. That carry-over in Capital Facilities could be used
for new projects at any Chamber even though it has been used only for Gateway
VC in recent years. Allen though that money could be moved to another category
due to an extreme need, based on the Ordinance. John suggested leaving out
percentages except for the 25% maximum for Capital Facilities and then defining
the other two categories in depth. This matter was moved to the next meeting to
allow the members to work on changes in the Ordinance.
2009 Packet
Dennis distributed 2009 Proposal Packet Lodging Tax/Tourism Promotion to
each attendee. Discussion about whether the page entitled 2009 Proposal
Summary Sheet was meant to be used for specific promotions or for Chambers
to give to organizations requesting funds for a particular event. Joy stated that
there was a period of time where the State said that LTAC money could not be
passed through a Chamber for advertising. Discussion. Allen stated that the
State Attorney General at one time made some interpretations that did not
actually become law.
ACTION: Allen didn’t know the present state of the law on this issue, but
will check how the issue stands at present.
John recommended that we try to have another meeting in a month or two.
ACTION: John will check with Lorna about the original thinking about the
percentages listed in the categories of the Ordinance.
ACTION: These matters were moved to the next meeting.
NEXT MEETING: 10-noon at Jefferson County Courthouse on July 22, 2008.
ACTION: John requested that each member submit their suggestions for
changes to him before the next meeting.
Meeting ended at 12:30 pm.