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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Lodging Tax Advisory Committee - 09/25/2014 (2) Special Meeting Lodging Tax Advisory Committee September 25, 2014 Start Time 4:00 pm ECD Large Conference Room Committee Members Present: Chair Bill Boyce, Andrew Hutchison, Blane Webber, Tim Higgins, Barbara Smith, David Kwok Others present: Ben Wolters, Julie Pulliam, Ryan Hart, Aaron BeMiller, and Mary Kae Repp from Genesis Marketing, Bob Lewis-Public Chair Boyce called the meeting to order at 4:02 pm, Introductions were done. Chair asked for any additions to the agenda, none were offered. Approval of Minutes A motion to approve the June 5, 2014 minutes was made by Barbara Smith and 2"d by David Kwok. Motion passes. Budget Update — Aaron BeMiller Provided a spread sheet of Lodging Tax to date balances including the July 2014 budget to date including the 2015 & 2016 budgets which will be included in the budget the Mayor will be proposing on Tuesday. BeMiller stated he thought this was the first time the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Members have seen the budget number. BeMiller stated he is used to having this meeting in July to give the committee the option to approve what is going forward and make requests for that. If the committee has any changes to be made a formal request give to chair and Chair can take that and have any Council changes to it. There is not a lot to say about it. BeMiller stated and he thought it should go quickly. 2015 fund balance; $244,000 in the bank, with that Finance is projecting Lodging Tax Revenue at about $208,000 that is taking the Lodging Tax estimate from March which was $206,000 and applying a 1% increase. Which is consistent with the increase Finance is applying for sales tax and property tax increase. The amount of new revenue Finance is budging for Lodging Tax is a little over 208,000. If all the revenue comes in and the beginning fund balance of $244,000 would give Lodging Tax a total amount of resources that could be spent at $452,000. The resources will have off setting expenditures. One thing that is different this year is Finance is including $10,000 of administration costs, the cost for Julie Pulliam and Ben Wolters to do Lodging Tax business on your behalf. What this constitutes is less than 5% of Lodging Tax new revenue and translates to approximately 65 hours of work throughout the year. 1.25 hours throughout the year of either Julie Pulliam or Ben Wolters time. Finance has taken the cost for either and put it together as 65 hours worth of work that will be charged to the Lodging Tax operating fund. Boyce asked is that a fixed fee or the base on 65 hours. Would they need to track their hours? BeMiller responded that Finance would ask them to track their hours as much as possible. With that information Finance would do adjustments throughout the year, quarterly. BeMiller stated it is not a fixed fee but Finance determined it is a reasonable guess. BeMiller asked Julie Pulliam and Ben Wolters talk to that more as to if 65 hours is appropriate through the course of the year. BeMiller stated it is most likely on the low end of what is done. Boyce asked is the rate the same, the base? Is it a higher rate for Ben than Julie? BeMiller stated it has been blended. Finance took the cost put it together and determined the cost per hour, so it doesn't matter which one is working, it is a blended rate for that purpose. Chair Boyce asked for questions. David Kwok asked what is the thinking behind now charging for staff time, it has never been charged before. BeMiller stated the thinking is what Finance is trying to do is get a complete cost in the supporting fund. Finance wants to capture the expenses that truly are accountable for the Lodging Tax operating fund. It doesn't have to be charged and it has not been done in the past and it will be a change in Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of September 25, 2014 Page: 2 practice. If the City is contributing work time through hours and staffing then Finance would like to capture that as well as the true cost for the Lodging Tax program. BeMiller said with adding the staff time we should be able to say the cost of this program. Wolters spoke to the issue - it is a practice of other Cities and County do, but it is something we have not done. It is something that we do not do. It was a policy decision many years ago to have General Fund support it. Wolters stated the City is at a place with the overall budget were we are looking for cost allocation in every nook and cranny and this represents that. Barbara Smith stated if 65 hours is spent over 12 months, especially this year with all the Branding overall that seem kind of inexpensive. Chair Boyce felt the fee was minimum and always looking from input from the Committee. Wolters replied Julie and I will be doing time sheets related to Lodging Tax. Hutchison asked if this is an estimate or a set amount. What if they go over 65hours? Boyce stated there will be $10,000 in the budget that is my understanding. Wolters stated we have to justify it for the auditors with the time sheet; some days will be lower than others depending on what Lodging Tax is working on. BeMiller continued what Finance has done for the 2015-2016 budget is carried forward the amounts Lodging Tax has budgeted in the past for the particular service areas. Seattle Southside budget $60,000 in both years. Unallocated amount for tourism is $20,000 in each year. Tourism is $18,500 in both years and all categories are consistent with previous years. ShoWare Marketing $60,000 and Branding Activities $20,000. For a total expenditure of each year of $188, 500. In 2015 if all goes as stated Lodging Tax fund balance will increase by $20,000 because Finance is estimating $20,000 more in revenue than we are estimating in expenses. And in 2016 the fund balance will increase an additional $22,000 that is if we spend as this budget reads. Barbara Smith asked BeMiller said this budget was based on this year first 3 months of Lodging Tax money coming in, but in the summer the occupancy would be up so would not the revenue go up? Chair Boyce asked which account is the work Genesis doing coming out of. Wolters stated the Branding Activity. Wolters recalled we took it out of 2013 but none of the 2013 amount is showing as rolled over. Mary Kae replied we have not invoiced yet for any of the expenses. Wolters stated that none of that is reflected here. Boyce asked should it be, Wolters replied yes. There is a budget move that is not showing here. Wolters stated this is generally correct but in the sub accounts we are missing some detail and will work with Finance to make those corrections. Chair Boyce asked to update the budget and send out to everyone so we can all be up to date. Wolters stated we will update and show that detail. Webber asked that the Southside heading was removed but is still showing and should no longer be the heading. Wolters stated that is correct and this does not show that correction. Wolters stated all Finance has done is take over the old categories and repeat them onward, it reflect Lodging Tax current position or contracts and policies. For example that is showing up in year to date for July. Wolters is curious about where the $4,648 comes from for Seattle Southside for 2014 year to date. Under this accounting that is about $55,000 not spent and will not be expending it to Seattle Southside. That $55,000 then would fall into ending fund IJ balance for 2014 Wolters fully expects that $243,000 would be approximately almost $300,000 BeMiller clarified if the Committee does not spend to what the 2014 expense shown the fund balance will increase. Wolters clarified Chair Boyce request to update the budget. Finance needs to get through preparing the Mayor's budget in October and after they get past Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of September 25, 2014 Page: 3 that Wolters will circle back and get the budget updated for the Committee. Chair Boyce said it is nice to have BeMiller at the Committee meetings and help to get the budget tighten up. Chair Boyce asked for questions on the budget. No questions. BeMiller asked Wolters to give him a call and they will go over the budget. Wolters stated he feels the key question for the Committee is for the 2015-2016 budget Do you want to take the $60,000 and reallocate it somewhere else this would be for Councils consideration this would be in the Mayor's proposal but we can change these through the City Council to be adopted by the version of the final City Councils budget. Smith stated she would like to see what kind of expenses will be coming from Genesis as well as other expenses coming up looking at going forward may be more than what is on here. We don't know what are choices are right now so Smith is fine with putting this budget through and then take a more detailed look later. BeMiller stated we want to try to budget as accurately as possible but if things don't line up exactly as long as the budget is not over spent it will be fine. You can over spend in one account line as long as the budget is not over spent. Kwok interjected why don't we just move it to Tourism Unallocated and let it sit there till we need it. Chair Boyce asked are we completely through with Seattle Southside? Wolters replied he did have a conversation with Katherine Kertzman on continuing on a minimal level of contract support and her response was she has a new board and that she would get back to Wolters from a Board Policy decision by the end of the year. So that is where Seattle Southside is. Chair Boyce said so if we move the budget to Tourism Unallocated it would still be there for tourism needs. Chair said he is good to leave it to Tourism Unallocated. Boyce asked the Committee if they would like to move it all or leave some in Seattle Southside. Smith stated Seattle Southside is tourism work and it would still fit under Tourism Unallocated. Wolters confirmed to move it all to Tourism Unallocated. BeMiller state from the Committee there needs to be a motion to adopt, and then the Council will formally make the change for the city budget. Wolters and BeMiller will provide that information for the final budget approval. Motion: Move $60,000 from Seattle Southside account line to Tourism Unallocated in 2015- 2016 budgets Barbara Smith moved, David Kwok 2nd, Chair asked for discussion, no discussion motion passes. Andrew Hutchison asked we allocated $60,000 for ShoWare Marketing and it doesn't look like anything has been spent. Tim Higgins stated it has not been spent yet. Hutchison asked what you think ShoWare will need for next year. Higgins stated $60,000. Wolters stated if the Committee recalls it is money to support and promote shows that would generate heads in beds. Wolters said we don't use it till we have the right opportunity. Chair asked when it is going to be used it is brought to the Committee to talk about it. Higgins stated yes it would be brought forth to the Committee. Motion: Move to approve the 2015-2016 Lodging Tax Advisory Committees Biennial Budget as amended by the Committee Barbara Smith moved and Blane Webber 2nd, Chair asked for discussion, no discussion, motion passes. BeMiller requested next year we do the budget with the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee in July. Makes sense to have it earlier in the year. Brand and Logo Sponsorship — Ben Wolters Wolters brought to the Committee a request from staff for the Committee to sponsor a Brand use at the Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County Annual Economic Forecast Conference in January 2015. This event will be held at the Washington Convention Center with an 800 plus attendance. With leading political and business leaders from the 4 regions of the County. It is an opportunity to present Kent as a place to invest and do Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of September 25, 2014 Page: 4 business in a way that is supported by our new Brand and approach. The suggested level of sponsorship is the Executive level and it costs $5,000. The type of advantages are a discounted placement in the Puget Sound Business Journal, all marketing materials and website for this event would have our Brand on it, at the actual event our Brand would be presented in all the presentation slides, opportunity of Mayor or Council Member to do an introduction, the City will have a table for 10 at the event. Wolters interest in this is a high profile regional events at has a lot of businesses there. If the Committee chooses to use Lodging Tax dollars to promote Kent to the larger business community to attract more investment that indirectly leads to more heads in beds. Wolters feels this is a great opportunity. Smith asked is this also about launching the new Brand. Wolters responded yes it is this is a high profile regional opportunity to do that. Blane Webber asked is the conference attended by Economic Developers from just around this region. Wolters stated the primary pool is from the 4 County regions, some that attend from other communities in Washington State but most are from the 4 County regions within the Puget Sound Region. Chair Boyce asked did we talk about splitting the $5,000. Wolters stated yes we could do a split of $2,500 from Economic Development and $2,500 from Lodging Tax. Smith stated what she liked is in order for us to get a trademark for our new Brand we have to show we are using it and this shows that as the most public thing we have used it for so far. KDP has made banners, but this will reach a whole lot more people. Wolters stated from a Regional perspective this could be a roll out and from a Regional perspective our kick-off. Smith stated we need to make sure it is done right. Mary Kae Repp stated depending on who you pick for your personalities on your website, you could have two or three of them at the table at the event. Chair Boyce asked for questions. Ryan Hart asked are there other sponsorship levels that could net a similar return. Wolters said the next level down is $2,500 and the next level up is $15,000 and that is to sponsor the whole event. If we were going to do a big roll out that would be one way to do it. To do a roll out with opinion leaders and decision makers in the Region, but at this time we have been doing baby steps and $5,000 gets us pretty prominent placement. Higgins asked what we get for $15,000. Wolters replied we would get more in the Puget Sound Business Journal and a lot freer placement of sponsorship. The Puget Sound Business Journal does a special insert which is in the paper. And much more presence at the event. Chair Boyce said this could be a big kick off, a moment and a chance to make a big statement in front of a large public audience, so why not do it right. Wolters is planning on presenting certain properties in Kent, and business opportunities and highlighting the past investment recently made like Amazon, Blue Origin, etc., to say things are happening in Kent, take a look. Smith asked if Lodging Tax did the full $5,000 then Economic Development could use what was being considered and make the marketing material. Wolters said none of what he is suggesting is for use to make marketing materials. Wolters asked for clarification of interest in the Lodging Tax Committee sponsoring the $15,000 level? Chair Boyce said that is what he was thinking and asked for conversation. Wolters will check on exclusivity. Mary Kae added the $15,000 is the sponsorship then there would be $3,000 - $10,000 to make it look good, different things to hand out people to be present, the look of the booth, and to make sure everything lays out correctly. Boyce asked for clarity the total expense could be $20,000 plus. Wolters stated on the Economic Development side we have some ability to do some of that. From a Lodging Tax perspective Wolters thinks it is more about the base $5,000 or $15,000 to be looking for. Wolters would need to come back to the Committee for anything above or beyond that. Chair asked for the Committees opinions. Ryan Hart said it is a bit of a jump from $5,000 to $15,000 it would be nice to see a list of what we would get for that level of sponsorship. Wolters proposed to email the whole committee the comparisons of the different levels and let's have that the bases of an email conversation. Wolters will explore if the Committee can do a vote via Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of September 25, 2014 Page: 5 conference call. Andrew Hutchison asked who will be in the audience, who will you be rolling this out to. If it is other Cities how is that useful for business wanting to relocate? Wolters clarified it is top real estate representatives, the banking community in the region, Boeing, Aerospace; it is a healthy cross section of the Regions business community and political leaders of local jurisdictions. David Kwok stated he is not too familiar with the EDC. Chair Boyce tabled this until more information is sent out to the Committee from Ben. Question from Bob Lewis Studio 37 designs public audience. January 15 you are going to start a new marketing campaign through the holidays and be ready in 3 months. Wolters replied no, that is not correct. It will be a marketing effort related to the event. Wolters feels it is all doable by January 15, 2015; some of the material is already ready to go. Lewis asked where he can go to see the new logo. Wolters replied you can contact me and I will get you a copy. Lewis was handed the items at the meeting showing the logo. Tourism Website Tour — VisitKent.com Branding & Marketing- Mary Kay Repo Mary Kae led a website Demo and review. Mary Kae stated that all of the items the Committee wanted change have been changed. If there is anything that has been missed or Genesis didn't understand this is the time to make those corrections. Smith had a couple of questions about the photos used, under Sports Nut the photo shown is a concert photo, it should be a sports activity. Higgins agreed the photo on Sports Nut needs to go under entertainer. Hutchison interjected he disagrees with the deletion of the photo of Mt. Rainier. Mary Kae said the photo is on the website but it was taken off the main slider because of a concern we were position ourselves as to close to Mt. Rainier. Chair Boyce stated the Committee would like it put back in. Smith brought up the dinning photo being a photo of the T-birds, needs to be a dinning photo. Recreation has a picture of hockey, needs to be skaters and action and it is a dark photo. Under Arts and entertainment we need to get Mary Kae some photos to use with people in them. Mary Kae stated we really do need a new photo library; we have three options for you. Smith asked what is the tab Games for. Mary Kae shared it is what is available to do in Kent, maybe Games is not the right name for the tab. Smith handed out the brochure for the historical tour of homes in Kent to use on the museum tab. Chair Boyce asked about a photo of the race track, Mary Kae answered yes there is a photo of Pacific Raceways. Hutchison asked do all the photos have to be in Kent. Will you get Museum of Flight, please add it, it is a huge attraction. Wolters likes the relationship of Kent with the Aerospace industry. Smith said under the My Trip Suitcase it shows a photo of the Sounder and it looks like the only way to get to Kent is the Sounder train and it seems to limit the vision of how people can get to Kent. Mary Kae said we should just have a really good photo of Kent. Under attractions there is a photo of Earthworks there should be a better photo. Mary Kae asked the Hoteliers if they like their page. It is in alphabetical order. Mary Kae stated the photo behind the site should be less busy and there are 5 images that rotate now. Once the library it would be nice to change out every month but right now it will be every quarter. This page is 100% live it can be stumbled on but it is not being promoted. Hart notice a glitch it is opening 2 tabs. Mary Kae will check in to it. Webber asked if it opens to the actual hotel page not the corporate page. It can open to any page you wish. Hutchison said he has newer phots he would like to use. Mary Kae said email the new photos to her in the highest resolution and she will get them updated. Smith said she did not notice the new logo on the website. Mary Kae noted it is at the bottom. Initially it was at the top but the request was it was too busy and taking over. It was agreed on big photos and the logo on the top would interfere with the big photos. Mary Kae asked if there is anything else from the Committee members. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of September 25, 2014 Page: 6 The next phase of decision Mary Kae was hoping to take away from today's meeting was a decision on our 5 people and a photographer and writer for the website. Smith submitted 5, Foodie - Susanne Cameron or Harpreet Gil; Entertainment-Mike Miller; Outdoor -Andrea Kiekkala; Family Fun Seeker-Brandy Dollerhide; Sports Nut-Greg Huffner or Libby and Dave Sidel. Chair Boyce brought up diversity reflection as stated in the Brand. Smith suggested for Foodie Randal Smith, Larry Cameron. Mary Kae asked for other suggestions. Hutchison suggested Paul Raftus. Entertainer, Sam East Hill business owner. Mary Kae suggested someone who goes to all the events, Tim Higgins suggested Dana Ralph or Jim Berrios could be in the Foodie category. Chair Boyce set this as homework to bring back names to the next meeting. Mary Kae replied this is a good start, if I can contact and get their photos on we can get this going so we can start marketing the site. The five people that sit there direct everything about what the campaign is going to look like. They dictate everything. We could get started with these people. Then we need to decide if this person is going to stay on this site and start looking for the WOW person. Like a Seahawk player or Sounder player that lives in Kent, or went to school in Kent. We could have a WOW person a person that lives in the area but we would really market the WOW person. We will start contacting both people to see if they would be willing to do it and what the cost will be. Hutchison asked what about people that travel here frequently for business. Mary Kae said that would be great also, send her the names. Chair Boyce asked is this enough to go forward, Mary Kae said yes she will take this forward if the Committee is ok with the names. Wolters wants to encourage the Committee to continue to send names to Mary Kae. Mary Kae will update the Committee on what each of the representatives say. Chair Boyce asked Mary Kae to send out a list to the Committee of who goes in what category the Committee put them in. Mary Kae presented a couple of things that were asked for at the one-on-one meetings. Looking for a photographer and a writer to do the blogs and to keep the site current and relevant. The request was to find someone that is in Kent and has a good handle on Kent and what is going on. There are 3 different options. Genesis recommendations would be to take Ross Coyle as a photographer, Dana Neuts as the writer. If we could use these two that would be good, the fees are reasonable. Wolters agreed as the staff person on the committee. Genesis will write contract with each to be approved by Ben Wolters and Julie Pulliam but include an out clause for timeliness and performance. Mary Kae will move forward in writing up a contract under these proposed dollar amounts. Photographer fees see attached cost estimates for Ross Coyle and Dana Neuts. Next is managing and maintaining the site. Genesis has put in a proposal to maintain and send out email, $350/month. Proposal details attached. Wolters asked to be reminded of the current fee associated with the current hosting of the site. Mary Kae responded $30 to host. At the moment that is all within the $25,000 current contract. These are the only charges that will be associated beside the contract that has already been approved for $15,000. Hart asked does the Committee agree it is necessary to do monthly, at $350 a month for 1 year is $4000 to manage only one page. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of September 25, 2014 Page: 7 Smith noted that will depend on how many businesses respond to the email. If there are more than one it would be worth it if only one not so much so maybe we should do it for a couple of months and see. Chair Boyce suggested 6 months at first. Mary Kae said the agreement could be written to adjust to the use of the different business. It is not a fixed rate it can be adjusted we wanted to do it monthly ideally, but it depend on what we are receiving. Chair Boyce asked to write it quarterly at this point. Mary Kae agreed and will write the contract to allow flexibility in with in the quarter for some reason if it is not working we can readjust. Wolters wanted to make sure all the business in Kent are included and reached out to. David Kwok said if we are going to be successful everyone will want to get on the website. Maybe in the future we will need to think about charging. Smith said this is something we can look at down the road. Chair Boyce asked what else is needed to Mary Kae. Mary Kae felt we dealt with all the items. Chair Boyce asked are we ok to go forward with the website. Committee Agrees to go ahead with the website. Hutchison had a question on the monthly fees. Is this ongoing every month. Mary Kae said after the first year will slow down except for special events we would send them to. The writer would be ongoing. Motion to approve the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee accepts the final design of the VisitKent.com website created by Genesis Marketing and authorize going live with the website launch, Andrew Hitchison moved and Barbara Smith 2nd, Chair asked for discussion, no discussion, motion passes. Chair Boyce asked for an estimated dollar amount. Hart said he would like to see the monthly numbers and costs broken out, if the budget is $20,000 annually the whole budget could be spent on one month. Chair Boyce asked if this should be tabled till the next meeting. Wolters would like to suggest one is tied to the other. On the writing it is what keeps the website fresh and the key component, on the photographer can Mary Kae suggest a not to exceed amount. Mary Kae responded yes. Chair Boyce asked the Committee to get back together on October 9th. Smith wanted a note in the minutes that the Committee Members who cannot make the October 9th meeting look at the budget and give feedback that would be read out loud. Wolters asked Mary Kae what you need this moment to implement the motion that just was pasted to get the website live. Mary Kae stated the specials are not as important at this moment as the writer and photographer. If we could get approval to hire Dana Neuts for the next 12 or 13 months to finish out this year and next year at the fee she has proposed that is so important at the site, Dana is just over $2010 and $990 for Ross about $3000 for the launch. Wolters staff recommendation is a motion to approve$3000 expenditure to start up Photography and copy to get the website up and going and the committee gets a new proposal for follow up and maintenance. Motion to approve $3000 expenditure to start up co py and and going and Genesis will get the committee anew p opo sal foorfol owyup andto getthe ma nt n a cep David Kwok moved and Barbara Smith 2 , motion passes. Meeting adjourned 5:35 pm Good of the order — Nothing Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Minutes of September 25, 2014 Page: 8 Assignments for next meeting - Bring back people's names you would like to see as the personalities on the website. Special Meeting Date - October 9, 2014, 4 pm Centennial North & South Conference Rooms - Cancelled Next Regular Meeting Date - November 20, 2014 at 4 pm (Committee will meet every other month on the 3rd Thursday of the month 4 pm.) Next regular meeting will be 6/19/14 Ad'ou ent - Them-e-qtirig was adjourned by Chair Bill Boyce, at 5:37 pm. r mitted by Julie Pulliam, Lodging Tax Secretary Minutes approved at the meeting of November 20, 2014