HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Lodging Tax Advisory Committee - 10/14/2021 Approved
Lodging Tax Advisory
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WA9H... Lodging Tax Advisory
Committee-Regular Meeting
Minutes
October 14, 2021
Date: October 14, 2021
Time: 4:03 p.m.
Place: Chambers
Members: Bill Boyce, Chair
John Casey,
Gaila Haas,
Tim Higgins,
Andrew Hutchison,
David Kwok,
Agenda:
1. Call to Order 4:03 p.m.
2. Roll Call
Attendee Name Title Status Arrived
Bill Boyce Chair Remote
John Casey Remote
Gaila Haas Present
Tim Higgins Present
Andrew Hutchison Present
David Kwok Present
3. Agenda Approval
4. Approval of the Minutes - 3/11/21
John Casey mover Tim Higgins second
A. Approval of Minutes dated March 11, 2021
MOTION: Move to approve the Minutes dated March 11, 2021
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: John Casey
SECONDER: Tim Higgins
AYES: Boyce, Casey, Haas, Higgins, Hutchison, Kwok
5. Information Items
A. Report on Lodging Tax Revenue
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Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Lodging Tax October 14, 2021
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Minutes
Shane Sorenson from Finance will report on Lodging Tax revenues returned
to the City through August of 2021, and how that compares to projections
made at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic regarding financial impacts to
travel/tourism and other hospitality related businesses.
Since the arrival of vaccines, travel and tourism have made significant
adaptations and taken steps toward recovery. However, the impact was
significant and continues to this day with hotels in particular struggling with
new or increased expenses, operating at reduced capacity and struggling to
maintain appropriate staffing levels. For these reasons, the LTAC revenue
outlook is trending very close to the high impact scenario predicted back in
March of 2020.
Councilmember Boyce asks what is the 2021 spending for - that is confirmed
by Michelle Wilmot and Shane Sorenson. The Ltac funds expended were
primarily JayRay but there was a payment made to the T-birds to support
their short and late season.
Would federal funding be available to make up for revenue losses of this type
to the city. That is a possibility but how it all works out remains to be seen.
B. Recovery Outlook and Committee Priorities
Michelle Wilmot asks our hotelier committee members to let us know what
they are currently experiencing, and what they are hearing from industry
peers and affiliated hotels in other markets. Feeling seems to be that while
leisure travel will fully recover and is well on its way, that business travel will
never get back to the levels it was at, because the pandemic brought
permanent changes to the ways that business is done, and new found
comfort with remote meeting tools, will make overnight travel for most
meetings increasingly rare.
Michelle raises the question about how hotels will deal with staff shortages
and the many industries that are offering higher wages than hospitality.
David shares he has lost employees to Amazon. He has two housekeepers for
72 rooms when he needs 5 or 6, especially with the extra cleaning required
due to COVID-19 protocols.
John Casey asks about month over month numbers. Is there a steady
recovery appearing? David shares that July was strong, as was first half of
August, but second half of August was dead and September was a roller
coaster, with a busy weeks followed by very low occupancy the next.
Bill Boyce wants to know what concerts are upcoming at ShoWare, and if any
of them might bring in overnight guests. Tim Higgins mentions some
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Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Lodging Tax October 14, 2021
Advisory Committee-Regular Meeting Kent, Washington
Minutes
upcoming concerts and acts, but the hotelieirs offer that this is a hard thing
to predict.
Michelle Wilmot brings up the concept of GeoTracking, a reality which is in its
infancy, but will eventually provide a lot more metrics about the visitors to
Kent. It miay seem a little intrusive but is expected to provide tremendous
value down the road in terms of being able to precisely direct marketing
campaigns.
Though agreeing that fiscal prudence was the best coarse in these times,
there is some regret about not having money to support events which are
happening now and which have proven to be winners in bringing business to
Kent Hotels.
With a strong recovery in lodging tax revenue still not forecast until mid
2022, the outlook for the City's tourism promotion grant program budget is
not robust. With a lot of uncertainty related to matters of public health, a
shortage of available workers and concerns for the overall economy, the
committee will have to consider very carefully the types of initiatives it
wishes to support with the funding available
Bill proposes that we reconvene in January.
C. Recent Changes for Boards & Commissions and Impacts on
Committee Membership
At the recommendation of Council, the City's legal team recently completed
an overhaul of the City's Ordinance No. 4406 governing the operations of
appointive boards, commissions, and committees. To enhance transparency
and consistency, a standard set of general provisions, modelled after the
Parks and Recreation Commission's governance was created and adopted to
govern the operations of all committees, except where state statute would
supersede rules established by the City ordinance.
These changes primarily impact recruitment of members, length of their
term, and the number of terms they will be allowed to serve. While the
lodging tax advisory committee is one of those commissions whose member
make up is dictated by state statute, its current membership will still be
significantly impacted by these changes.
While there are eight seats on the committee, there are only five active
committee members serving at present (this does achieve the minimum for a
quorum). Of these only one will be eligible to continue as a member at the
end of their current appointment. The other 4 will be ineligible to serve,
UNLESS a proactive recruitment process fails to discover willing and qualified
new committee members to serve and advise council on committee
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Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Lodging Tax October 14, 2021
Advisory Committee-Regular Meeting Kent, Washington
Minutes
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recommendations, and they still wish to serve. Today's discussion will
summarize and answer questions about these ordinance changes and
membership impacts.
6. Adjournment 4:59 p.m.
Committee Secretary
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