After being denied three grant requests for new initiatives designed to increase tourism on Tuesday by the Montgomery County Convention and Visitors Commission, Montgomery County Visitors Bureau Interim Director Teresa Anderson was going through her budget on Wednesday with a fine tooth comb. She was disappointed with the CVC’s action, but she was not allowing the decision to deter her from her mission.
“Montgomery County deserves a top-notch and well-funded destination marketing organization,” Anderson said. “The businesses deserve it and the residents deserve it. We recognize that and we will forge onward to be that organization.”
To meet the goals that Anderson and the bureau’s board of directors have adopted, Anderson said services may be cut due to lack of funding. As the interim director has said numerous times, she believes a website upgrade for the bureau is the most important step toward reaching the goal of attracting more visitors to the county.
“Everything we are doing will drive visitors to our website,” Anderson said. “If we do not have a decent website, what we are trying to do is not going to work. We want the community to be showcased in a positive way.”
Anderson, whose resumé includes improving tourism in Brown County and Orange County and other areas, said her ideas are not anything new to the tourism industry. The three grant requests would have established a cooperative advertising program in state-wide tourism magazines, improve funding for events within the county and improve the website. Anderson said the ideas have worked everywhere she has worked and in other counties.
“The three programs we brought to the CVC are proven to work all across the United States,” Anderson said. “We are not trying to do anything new or risky, but rather, we want to implement tried and proven programs. All we are doing is establishing marketing programs that have been successful in other communities.”
Anderson said after receiving positive feedback from the CVC in May’s meeting, she decided to start the cooperative marketing program. Within a couple of days, 10 different Montgomery County businesses have signed up to participate in the program.
“We will honor our commitment to the co-op program and to the businesses who were excited about it,” Anderson said. “It will cost us around $3,000 for the program, which will take funds away from other programs we have done in the past.”
Anderson said as she works through the budget, she is looking for ways to divert money to the design of a new website.
“We are reevaluating where our money is going,” Anderson said. “We want it to go where it will have the most impact. Unfortunately, there are some things we have funded in the past that we will not be able to fund the rest of this year.”
Anderson said printing services at the bureau have been cut along with more advertising in state-wide publications. Sponsorships, such as future softball tournaments, might also be on the chopping block in order to meet the goals present in the bureau’s new three-year plan.
The CVC has heightened expectations from the bureau in the past three years. They have asked for better accounting and a tabulation of results such as the number of hotel rooms being used during events. Anderson said, as far as she can surmise, the bureau has complied with all CVC demands.
Visitors Bureau president Leslie Peacock agreed with the interim director.
“Our board has given it a 100 percent effort to rebuild the organization,” Peacock said. “We jump through the hoops and it is like the CVC changes the rules again. On Tuesday CVC members expressed concern over who the new director will be. Never before had we heard a concern about the future director of the bureau.”
The CVC has forced the bureau to spend down their reserve cash amounts by decreasing the amount of innkeepers tax distributed to the bureau. Records indicate that is exactly what the bureau’s board of directors has been doing. The bureau’s cash balance on Jan. 2014 was $159,856. Of that balance, there was only $71,823 remaining on April 30. To finish out the current year, the bureau estimates it will need $65,000 to keep the doors open.
The amount of funds in the bureau’s cash includes $55,000 which is being held in reserve. The reserve funds were used in the first and second quarters to cover payroll since the county was late with their quarterly $20,000 distributions to the bureau.
Anderson said she thinks the underlying problem that seems to exist between the CVC and the bureau is trust.
“The CVC members do not trust the bureau,” Anderson said. “They have said let’s let the past be the past, but I don’t think they have taken their own advice. Things are changing for the good at the bureau and we have to get that communicated to them.”
The CVC started 2015 with $104,119 in county coffers. Year-to-date receipts total $70,457. To date total disbursements total $52,000 leaving them with $122,577.
