The message from the Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau remains the same — when it comes to tourists, they seek quality over quantity.
That mantra was again expressed during the Sedona City Council meeting April 24, in which the chamber’s budget and destination service plan were discussed over the course of more than three and a half hours.
The budget submitted by the chamber for Fiscal year 2019-20 is $2,492,500. This is $130,500 less than the projected 55% of bed tax of $2,623,000. However, this is based on a flat projection of bed tax, which is conservative, a city report states. The $2,492,500 draft budget represents a $316,100 increase from the FY 2018- 19 approved budget of $2,176,400, which was also reduced from the estimated 55% of bed tax for that year.
Chamber Board Chairwoman Stephanie Giesbrecht said the goal once again is to find that balance between sustainable tourism and the quality of life for the residents. She also said this is an issue facing many tourism-based communities that rely upon those tax dollars to survive.
“Without a strong financial engine, a city will die,” she said, noting that 77% of the city’s total sales tax is generated by tourists. “Unfortunately we’ve seen other cities that do not have financial engines and have fallen basically into ruins. We’ll never go there with this partnership [city and chamber].”
The council and chamber held a joint retreat session in January. At that session, both sides generally agreed to the following:
- The relationship between the city and chamber is an important, valued partnership.
- Services would contin-ue to be procured through a partner-negotiated contract — similar to other community service organizations — rather than a Request for Proposal process often used to secure equipment, consultant and contracting services.
- Chamber budgets would no longer be pegged strictly to 55% of bed tax because a guaranteed 55% of bed tax, especially the “true up” [funds paid back to the city] at year-end, creates a possible real or perceived conflict with Arizona State Constitution’s Gift Clause.
- The city prefers building a budget from the ground up to reflect needed services rather than always working down from a specific number, irrespective of how much it grows or contracts.
- The city needs flexibility to adjust the overall contract and the mix of expenses between tourist attraction on other areas of tourism management based on current conditions in any given year.
- While budgets will not be pegged strictly to 55% of bed tax, the city recognizes the need to remain consistent and competitive with other similar tourist markets where 50% to 60% of bed taxes is often invested.
- Chamber’s need for stability and predictability in revenues to appropriately plan and program services.
- The Fiscal Year 2019-20 budget should reflect the goal to maintain but not grow current levels of tourism.
“Significant this year is that we have the completed and adopted Sustainable Tourism Plan,” City Manager Justin Clifton said. “We have seen a shift over the years from a program that was really focused strictly on tourism attraction to a program more broadly focused on tourism management. The Sustainable Tourism Plan is really what gives that framework substance.”
Councilwoman Jessica Williamson said that, when she was out campaigning last year, many told her that people already know about Sedona, so why is there a need at all to market it?
“We get that question, too,” Chamber President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff said. “My response is, if we don’t manage our brand and who we are, others will. If we’re not at the table saying ‘No, don’t come to Sedona for the day. If you’re going to come to Sedona, you need to spend at least two nights here.’ Otherwise we’re allowing someone else of manage our reputation.
“And why in the world would you allow someone else to do that because it’s not going to benefit us, it’s going to hurt us.”
Ron Eland can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 122 or by email at reland@larsonnewspapers.com
