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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Lodging Tax Advisory Committee - 05/23/2012 Lodging Tax Advisory Committee May 23, 2012 Start Time 4:00 pm Centennial North & South Conference Rooms Committee Members Present: Jamie Perry Chair, Andrew Hutchinson, David Kwok, Beth Sylves, Blane Webber Others present: Julie Pulliam, Bob Nachlinger, Ben Wolters Guest: Katherine Kertzman (SSVS), Ashley Comar (SSVS), Steve Turcotte, Garin Lee Chair Jamie Perry called the meeting to order at 4:03 pm and skipped the approval of minutes and move on to Reports; Reports Seattle Southside: Katherin Kertzman gave an update on the proposed tourism promote area (TPA); her notes of her presentation are attached. Kertzman clarified that the (TPA) is a Tourism Promotion Area Assessment; the current level of lodging tax funding would go to this new public development authority the hoteliers would petition the municipalities to create the Tourism Promotion Area Assessment not a tax it is an assessment. Those funds would go from the hotel to the Department of Revenue to the PDA. Perry asked Kertzman, so you are asking for both, Kertzman said yes. Kertzman said we need to bring these thing to the table and start those decisions so we can decide if and what role Kent will play in the development of this. Andrew Hutchinson who works for Best Western explained his company has a Best Western in Sea Tac, and our leadership feels that a portion of it should go to fund the Washington tourism alliance which promotes the state, most people who enter the state goes through Sea Tac. Perry wanted to know how many hotels are in the City of Kent. For a hotel to qualify they need to have 61 or more rooms and the recommendation is $2 a room. Kertzman stated there will be an hotelier stakeholders meeting just for the hoteliers, all the cities from Seattle Southside will be invited to participate. It can't move forward unless 60% of the qualifying hotels in the city petition. David Kwok stated it would be fair to have a separate meeting for all the Hoteliers of Kent to have a decision. Kertzman stated the purpose of this update was to spur the conversion between the hoteliers. How does our goals from the retreat fit with this and how you can fit into what we want to do. And whether or not there is some cross over, maybe at the next meeting you can bring that back. If there are things you are doing that fits into the goals we need to discuss that. Kertzman serves on the executive board for the Seattle Sports Commission. Seattle Southside as part of the TPA is looking at working on a sports commission as well. Perry had one more question on the last time Malee presented information about overnight stays; we had asked it be broken down to Kent specific, has that been done. Would it still be possible to get that information? Kertzman will bring back to meeting. Kent Downtown Partnership: Not in attendance Kent Chamber of Commerce: Not in attendance a Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of May 23, 2012 Page: 2 Old Business: Beth Sylves gave her update $5,000 Pandora ShoWare Event. Planned to spend $30,000 but with support and other dollars we were able to spend $40,000 which supported the success of the event. That event put us on the radar that helped us get a larger event. The promoter was very please of the success of the event and singing the praises of the building and community. New Business • ShoWare Shootout ask for $5,000 Steve Turcotte was at the meeting to give his presentation. Started 2 years ago with 140 teams, 165 last year and 200 is the goal for this year. Allied Waste is a sponsor again for the third year. With the event getting bigger we have to buy some new baskets, extra staffing. We are part of the Washington state games with the Seattle sports Commission. We are getting bigger and better. Wolters asked being your 3ra year into it what is you developing concept of reaching out to grow the event beyond the region. Turcotte said he is reaching out to the kid's tournaments and basketball camps and handing out cards and posters to branch out and get the word out to the community that would participate. David Kwok asked if the goal is to get as big as Spokane and would it be able to move the date out of the July date. It would help the hoteliers if it was later in the summer. Andrew Hutchinson asked if it could be done in-doors in the winter. Turcotte said it is seen as a summer outdoor event, but it could possible happen inside. The tournament in January is great for the heads in beds. Wolters was the advocate for this in the first years. The three on three Hoopfest across the county still remains as a outdoors festival style which has been successful. I would ask the hotel members to keep that in mind. Perry asked in the last few years do you know how many are staying and spending money at Kent Station. Turcotte knows that some of the people have gone to movies, to the restaurants. Perry asked when people register do they get information on the hotels. Turcotte said is it included in the packet of information on Kent. If the hoteliers have banners he would like to put them out. Perry said it would be great next year if you could bring back how many people have been brought to Kent, how many people stayed in the hotels so we can start tracking the effectiveness of the monies the committee is handing out Beth said she would be able to help with the survey information and Katherin said they could create the flyer for the Shoot out showing Kent Hotels for the event. David Kwok moves to grant the $5,000 ask for the ShoWare Shootout, Beth Sylves seconded. Motion passes • Kent Parks & Rec ask for $10,000 Garin Lee from the Parks Department attended to share the request to seek funding to replace the portable fencing for tournaments. The portable fencing allows parks to size the fields to reflect the request of the tournament directors to meet the needs of Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of May 23, 2012 Page: 3 the age or level of the groups. This helps Kent Parks be attractive to the different clubs that come to use the facilities, copies attached. Currently we host over 50 baseball/softball tournaments and this year we have scheduled 58. This year we have sub-regional or larger Kent does attract out of state teams who want to come to Kent. Our current stock of fencing is wearing out. David Kwok asked what is the playing period? Garin stated they start in April and the end of the year is September. David asked what is the number of games a year. The packet has a list of 58 listed. David also wanted to know how many teams are out of the area, Garin did not have that number but approximately 1/2 are out of the area. We track and do put the information in the sign up packets for each event. David asked what we can do to help support the Parks & Recreation Department. Katherin Kertzman jumped in and stated the Committee has in the past funded several large Western Softball tournaments in the past and Seattle Southside was the housing agency to make sure the stays were in Kent. Chair Perry asked who is the person that does the recruiting and outreach for tournaments? Lee replied David Heldt. Perry would like to run it through legal prior to payment, being concerned it is a Capital expense. The purchase for the fencing will be this year, 2012. Perry would like to have a Parks and Rec person possibility David Heldt present at the Lodging Tax meeting in the future. David Kwok moved to grant the $10,000 as long as legal agrees Lodging Tax Dollars can be used for such purpose, Beth Sylves seconded. Motion passes Lee stated he would have either Lori or Dave know of the request from the Committee to attend the future Lodging Tax Meeting. *Legal was contacted and it is legal to use lodging tax dollars for the purpose. What funds are available, the Lodging Tax has an unallocated budget of $20,000 to distribute. We also have our ending fund balance of $92,439.00 Perry stated but yearend is projected at $109,000 as budgeted. ShoWare Impact Study ask for $5,000 Ben Wolters presented the City Council has approved an authorization to move forward with an Economic Impact Study for the ShoWare Center. There has been a preliminary done as part of the Feasibility Study in 2006 it was prospective we have 3 years of operations and data and it is felt like it is time to take a more accurate picture of the economic impact of ShoWare Center has been to Kent. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of May 23, 2012 Page: 4 The request before the committee is financial, the city budget is tight and we are looking for Lodging Tax funds to help with some of the costs of the study and secondly this leads back to some of the goals objectives that the Lodging Tax Committees has outline recently in the most recent retreat. The study's scope of work includes 2 different types of surveys that is what is proposed for the $5,000 from Lodging Tax to go towards the surveys. One survey is of the people that come to ShoWare and the other is for the Kent Businesses. It is believed the businesses have benefited from the ShoWare Center. We will also be interviewing businesses who feel have been impacted negatively to understand the full range ShoWare is doing. It will also interview the event goers of two events to understand better what activities they are currently engaged in before and after an event, what would they like to see, the shows ShoWare provides, how can we do a better job in marketing to both the people that attend ShoWare events as well as the businesses in Kent. If we do the surveys correctly we feel the information will help inform some of the goals and objectives that were developed in the committees last retreat as it relates to building connections with businesses, building better recognition as Kent as a destination as well as refining ShoWar's operations as our primary tourism facility. This group would have input on the questionnaire that will be put out. It is currently being crafted by the Gilmore Group a subcontractor to Community Attributes the consultant for doing this study. That is our proposal. Beth Sylves noted that at the retreat the committee in the minutes there was an item under; poll businesses and it was one of the things we felt necessary. Nice it has come up so quickly. David Kwok wanted to know how long it would take, Wolters said approximately 90 days. One of the high school graduations we think would be a good source of data. We will be reporting back to the City Council sometime in September. In terms of this committees involvement Perry asked would they work together to help craft the questions that would be applicable to this board. Wolters stated yes David Kwok said he feels it is a good thing to do. How will it be handed out? The survey that is with people that attend ShoWare events is a one person to one person man on the street. The Business is smaller and more targeted. We are targeting just over 20 businesses. We will be looking at a range from hotel and restaurants, to the corporate participants that have either had events or relies on ShoWare as a means to do business entertainment. City Council also wanted it to be fair and balance so we will be interview some business that have had a negative impact from ShoWare that is questions about parking and it comes from the fashion stores in Kent Station. Andrew Hutchinson said he feels it is a great idea but feels it is not a good use of Lodging Tax dollars. I think the money could be better spent doing tourism promotion. Blane Webber also agrees with Andrew Hutchinson. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of May 23, 2012 Page: 5 Wolters explained this is just a portion of the study monies it is coming out of several sources, total study will cost $36,400. Perry moved to grant the $5,000 ask for the ShoWare Impact Study, Blane Webber seconded. Motion passes David Kwok moved to approve the minutes from the retreat, Beth Sylves seconded. Motion passes • Game Time Events update GTE will be putting on 6 high school events 3 at ShoWare this year. Time to raising the bar this year. We will be bringing in 3 out of town teams Sunday night then play Monday and go home after that. 1 team will be from California and 2 out of Oregon. December 22 for local games and finally the Kent Shoot out where the Kent Schools play each other. Division 1 basketball game Wed March 6 division 1 Calif State Bakersfield and will need hotels for that. Lots coming up! Budget Bob Nachlinger said things are looking up. Jan Feb up 36 and a half 13.8% of Jan Feb of the previous year, best year was 2008 before the wheels fell off, dropped almost 30% and has grown back there is a chance the committee fund might be back to the 2008 amount. Budget reports attached. Perry would like to have a larger conversation on what our budget should look like and where we want to go with funding. This should be a big part of our next meeting. Kertzman said the meeting with the hoteliers should happen first. Good of the order Beth Sylves is working on a sports commission and had a discussion with Andrea Dawn Colston, Jamie Perry. The meeting was on what a sports commission is, and what it could mean to Kent. It was a good discussion not ready to report on a proposal. Next Meeting Date — Was tentative set for July 19t" Committee will meet every other month on the 3rd Thursday of the month. Adjournment - The meeting was adjourned by Chair Jamie Perry at 5:45 p.m. Julie Pulliam, Lodging Tax Secretary