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Travel and Tourism board reports good November income

The Hot Springs County Travel and Tourism board met for its December meeting last week in the form of a public hearing per its compliance requirements according to law.

Treasurer Matt Hughes presented the financial report ending in November 2020. They were at the time of the meeting 54.4% successful in dispersing their CARES Act funding and by that next Friday will have fully spent the CARES Act money according to the requirements of funding. 

Also, worthy to mention is that the November income was $30,267.93, which was 32% higher than the previous which was $22,911.96. The board credited that there was more traffic this year and according to chairman Carl Leyba that the increase was from revenue brought in by construction workers. Leyba also noted that by December all “the lodging numbers dropped tremendously.” Board member Susan Lankford added that hunters and fishermen also contributed to the increase.

As part of their public hearing, the board voted to officially accept the budget of the spent CARES Act money. Additionally, the board voted for accepting the budget of the carryover money. Director Jackie Dorothy presented a proposed carryover budget. Elements of Dorothy’s proposed carryover budget included a non-COVID summer magazine, ad buys, advertisements on television and OTT, Facebook ads, Google ads, radio and live radio broadcasts, voiceover work, a winter campaign, a summer campaign, and creation of more video production content. 

The board did not vote on the budget itself, but on the amount of money, they were willing to spend as a whole. There was much back-and-forth discussion about how much in reserve they thought they needed versus spending the entire amount of carryover funds. Leyba was concerned about meeting the monthly bills of the board and that it would be wise to have a reserve. In the end, they agreed to spend $38,300 in the next three months and leave approximately $20,000 to $24,000 per the Chairman in reserve. They will review their lodging numbers in March to see if they can afford to spend any more.

 

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