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BY CAITLIN BOWLING STAFF WRITER state bill that would raise Haywood County’s lodging tax is still sitting idly in committee in Raleigh with no signs of going up for a vote soon in the General Assembly. The bill has until May 16 to pass the Senate; otherwise, it will die in committee, and the county will have to wait two years before putting up a similar piece of legislation. “If it is going to make it, it needs to make it now,” said Ken Stahl, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority board’s finance chair. Specifically, the bill asks for permission to increase the county’s lodging tax from 4 percent to 6 percent. The tax is tacked onto the cost of an overnight stay in a Haywood County accommodation, and the proceeds are used to promote the county as a vacation destination and fund tourism initiatives. The additional 2 percent, however, would be set aside expressly for tourism-related capital projects. The extra 2 percent would focus on broadening attractions in Haywood County in an attempt to attract more people to the area. By allowing the bill to die, business owners “shoot themselves in the foot because that is the smartest thing they can do to hurt their own business,” said Canton Town Manager Al Matthews, who serves on the TDA board.
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The fine print of ‘paid for by’ line debated by tourism funding arm
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Window is closing for stalled room tax increase in Haywood
Maggie Valley — to be on board before he would usher it to passage. Opponents of the tax increase have argued that the added cost would deter potential lodging customers and penalize lodging owners. They have also questioned whether a sports complex would actually draw people. Although supporters of the increase have Teams from surrounding areas such as tossed around the idea of a sports complex in Knoxville play in tournaments monthly at the Jonathan Creek, which the county purchased baseball fields in Canton. Although Samuel land for in 2007 but has yet to build, TDA board Carver, owner of Waynesville Inn Golf Resort members mentioned at a recent meeting that and Spa and TDA board member, had families projects such as an ice-skating rink in Maggie stay in his establishment during a tournament Valley would also be good candidates for fund- this month, others said they did not receive ing if the 2 percent increase was enacted. any calls from teams. Maggie Valley leaders have looked into an “I didn’t get a phone call,” said Lyndon ice-skating rink, which could draw tourists to Lowe, owner of Cabins and RV’s at Twinbrook the valley and give them Resort in Maggie Valley. another winter activity Other board members Specifically, the bill in addition to skiing at said part of the problem Cataloochee. be that people don’t asks for permission to could “It sounds like a 2 realize how close Maggie percent project for me,” Valley is. They also sugincrease the county’s Matthews said. gested that chambers of lodging tax from 4 TDA board member commerce or lodging assoand Maggie Valley ciations attend the tournapercent to 6 percent. Restaurant owner James ments and hand out lists of Carver didn’t see why accommodations and the bill shouldn’t move on when all the elected things to do in Haywood County to maximize county and town leaders in the county are for the number of people staying in the county. it — with the lone exception of two Maggie Currently, some team members and their Valley aldermen. families stay just over the county line in “We have two individuals who oppose it, Buncombe. and they oppose it because they don’t underPeople don’t see the benefit of a baseball stand it,” Carver said. “The 2 percent is a gold complex right now. But if they did, their tune mine.” would change, said TDA board member Beth The bill cannot move forward, however, Brown. without the support of Sen. Jim Davis, R“It’s not going to be a shove down the Franklin, who has maintained that he wants throat for these ball fields; it will be ‘Yeah, everyone in agreement — including outliers in bring it on,’” Brown said.
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BY CAITLIN BOWLING STAFF WRITER f the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority is footing the bill for a magazine ad, brochure, sign — you name it — the tourism agency deserves recognition, tourism board members reaffirmed last week. The tourism agency dishes out close to $200,000 a year to festivals, chambers of commerce and niche marketing campaigns in the county. It’s a standing, written policy that those ads give credit give for the funding where credit is due. But organizations in Maggie Valley have instead been putting the contact information for the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce on ads rather than the countywide tourism agency. While it didn’t follow the letter of the guidelines, it was tacitly allowed. “That has been the verbal agreement. It is not written into the guidelines,” said Lynn Collins, executive director of the TDA. The topic came up again at a recent TDA board meeting after Canton Town Manager and TDA board member Al Matthews noticed that in some advertising, the tourism agency’s contribution was not even noted. “If the TDA is paying half or more, it should be on there,” Matthews said.
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Namely, the ad should say “paid for by” or “paid in part by” the Haywood County TDA, he argued. “If the TDA is sponsoring somewhere, it needs to be acknowledged,” Matthews said. The board voted to reaffirm current rules that are technically already on the books that would make it mandatory for advertising to state that it was funded fully or partially by the TDA. The line would give the tourism agency the recognition it desires without cluttering advertisements with too much information. Historically, the TDA required people to include the agency’s logo, phone number and website in any marketing that it contributed to, but the information sometimes got lost amid details about the business or event and logos for other organizations such as a chamber of commerce. “If you are going with a sixth of a page ad, that logo gets so illegible that it is a waste of space,” Collins said. But, some TDA board members contended that the tourism agency cannot dole out funding with nothing in return. The board batted around requiring the TDA’s logo, but once again, some thought that the addition would overload ads with too much information, making it less effective.
“I think adding another logo would be really confusing for the consumer,” said Audrey Hagar, director of the Maggie Valley fairgrounds. Hagar said advertising for events already includes the fairgrounds’ logo and information about the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce. “To ask to add anymore would be a hardship,” she said. Teresa Smith, executive director of Maggie Valley’s Chamber of Commerce, agreed that too many details would overwhelm people, but simply adding “paid for by” would not. “You’ve got one logo, you’ve got one website and you’ve got who it’s paid by,” Smith said. “You’ve got all of it without gumming it up.” In the past, the TDA punished business owners who neglected to list it as a sponsor in its marketing and promotion efforts. In 2009, the tourism agency promised Skipper Russell, owner of Corn Maize in Canton, $3,000 to advertising the corn maze. Russell spent $8,000 on advertisements but forgot to mention the TDA’s contribution in any of them. Because of that, the authority refused to give him the $3,000 it had agreed to.