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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Lodging Tax Advisory Committee - 10/14/2021 Approved Lodging Tax Advisory ' T Committee KEN 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 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 1 of 4 Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Lodging Tax October 14, 2021 Advisory Committee-Regular Meeting Kent, Washington 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 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 2 of 4 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 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 3 of 4 Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Lodging Tax October 14, 2021 Advisory Committee-Regular Meeting Kent, Washington Minutes ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ ._............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 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 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 4 of 4