Coulee Dam open to new tourism spending approach

Faced with various groups annually vying for tourism tax dollars, most Coulee Dam Town Council members verbally endorsed an approach suggested by Mayor Greg Wilder last week: outsource it — with provisos.

Wilder advocated an approach similar to what the chamber of commerce was trying to organize last year, a separate tourism advisory board that each of the three towns collecting the tax from tourists would empower to use funds for marketing the whole area.

But even if such an entity does not yet exist, Wilder was in favor of taking that approach by handing to the chamber the responsibility of spending most of the town’s marketing money raised through hotel/motel taxes that must be used to promote tourism.

The town expects to be holding about $78,000 in that fund by year’s end, and that another $40,000 will come into it in 2015, paid by anyone who rents a room at a local motel for the night.

The town fielded some $42,000 in requests this year, but itself needs about $39,000, said Town Clerk-Treasurer Stefanie Bowden. That pays for maintenance of parks and the town’s visitor center and restrooms at Mason City Memorial Park. Some of it would also be used to pay part-time staff at that visitor center.

But Wilder proposed nearly depleting the fund this year in support of town and regional marketing needs, then changing the way the town manages it from now on, formally set by ordinance.

Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Peggy Nevsimal reported on what the chamber had done in 2014 with combined funds from the three towns and showed video that ran on TV in major markets in the state and on the Internet in a concerted marketing campaign.

Nevsimal said Bureau of Reclamation visitor figures showed a six-percent increase over 2013, and local motels increased by anywhere from 7 to 11 percent, despite a three-week period of intense wildfire smoke that affected tourism regionally.

Wilder proposed funding the chamber’s efforts with $30,000, but then passing an ordinance to reserve 25 percent of revenues from the tax each year, building the fund up to $50,000 for town needs or for other tourism contingencies.

“It sounds like a really good idea to me,” said Councilmember Shawn Derrick. He said building the fund back up was most important to him, but he endorsed the idea of letting the chamber or other entity make decisions about how to promote the area.

The other three council members present each expressed approval for the approach.

“The idea of having one entity deciding how the money is dispersed ... would streamline things a lot,” offered Councilmember Ken Miles, “although it might put a strain on the chamber.”

That was a reference to the tension each of the three cities face as competing requests come in each year.

“We’re trying to distance ourselves from that, as well,” noted chamber President Kerry Higgins to some chuckles.

But the cumbersome process that exists has cost the area opportunity. The chamber had to push a second time in 2014 to get enough funds to advertise the new laser show and the area in general all summer. The delay likely didn’t help the area, Higgins noted, since vacationers often plan earlier than the campaign could start.

Later in the evening, the council gave its assent in approving a draft budget that reflected the mayor’s proposal.

The council will hold its final hearing on the 2015 budget Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 5 p.m.