Staff Reports
The Jefferson Tourism Board reported they have their financial statements from the City and reported $99,714 in revenue as of April 22, but does not including a $18,515 received May 1. There is also an additional $7,250 rolled over from last year still to be credited. HOT revenue is up 17.37% from the same time last year.
Board President Colleen Taylor did not indicate how much Tourism has spent so far this fiscal year. However, there are expenses which were mis-coded and not corrected yet in the report. An example is Building Maintenance of $704.91. These errors, according to Taylor, should be corrected in the near future.
Several bills were pulled from payment by Ward 3/1 Alderman Richard Turner recently to find more assurances and information before payment. They included:
-The Chamber for Balloon Glow (New Event Fund)
-Marcia Thomas’ Pioneer Days (New Event Fund)
-Chamber to subsidize map project (Discretionary Fund)
-Travel and education reimbursements for trade shows
Taylor indicated she had verified the expenses with THLA as being able to be used by non-board members, and there is nothing in the board’s bylaws requiring council approval prior to payment of bills.
“Why didn’t’ they call you as president? All they had to do was call you and it would have been resolved,” said board member Paul Morehead.
“Even though we have it budgeted?” asked B.W. Brooks.
“Yes,” responded Taylor.
The held a special meeting on Tuesday, instead of their regular meeting on Monday, following a posting error on their regular agenda.
Avenue reports the City has collected $114,862 so far this physical year. There are two lodging facilities behind in payment on their HOT tax but both have indicated they will be currently this month. There are also two new facilities opening next month.
According to Taylor, City Secretary Melissa Boyd has asked Taylor to keep track of line item expenses until the previous year city books have closed and then meet to update the budget.
Brooks said he will close his B&B one weekend in June so he and his wife can attend the Meeting Planners International Gala. The board is a member of the organization which is geared at marketing to meeting planners. This will be the first meeting the city has attended since joining. Attending meetings was budgeted and is a networking event.
Taylor said there is a closed group to get updates to the new City Map jointly created between Tourism and the Marion County Chamber of Commerce. She also said the maps have been distributed, and up to six locations have been identified for larger versions of the map downtown to work as locator maps for visitors. The locations were not announced as all the appropriate permissions have not been received, said Taylor.
Board Member Pam Thomas suggested a change to the advertising plan to include a recurring ad in the Discover Jefferson & Marion County which is published in partnership with Marion County Media LLC, owner of the Jimplecute, as the official visitors guide for the City of Jefferson.
The board agreed to purchase a full-page ad in each edition for a year. The specifics of the ad have not been finalized yet but will utilize the information in the City’s rack cards. The ads will begin with the Q3 2022 edition, published in July.
Thomas also said the latest report from Anderson Marketing shows that over 39,000 visitors have been driven to the visitjeffersontexas.com website, Houston traffic is up 45% from last year, and website traffic is up 11%.
Lastly, Taylor indicated the Visitors Center is booked through the end of the year, and when a cancellation occurs, it usually re-books quickly.
The board will meet again on June 13.