Around 150 were in attendance for the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau’s first meeting on Sept. 4 at the Brown County Playhouse. On stage from left are Amy Oliver, Elaine Bedel, Lyn Letsinger-Miller, Dan Bortner
The Brown County Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC) has extended their contract with the Brown County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) through Dec. 31.
The motion passed Aug. 8 was to discover the ideal structure, entity and direction to improve the county’s marketing while focusing on being responsible with innkeeper’s tax funds, CVB Chair Brian Tadlock said.
“Through the survey and roundtables we have gained the community’s input allowing our board to put together a strategic plan for the CVC,” said Tadlock. “Part of this journey was better understanding the financials of the CVB. Our previous year’s budgets were $712,500, although we have received additional funds for projects, and we have discovered that the initial base budget needs to be higher. The CVC has resubmitted their budget proposal to the county council so we can be fiscally responsible with the innkeeper’s tax.”
The CVB conducted an online survey at their first meeting on Sept. 4 to gauge Brown County residents and business owners’ priorities for the use of local innkeeper’s tax. According to the results from the survey, the community’s top priorities are enhancing marketing campaigns, supporting local businesses and attracting new events and festivals.
“Our questions arise with events and festivals,” said Tadlock. “Does the community want us to plan, organize and attract events and festivals, which would need considerably more funding, or push existing events through our marketing channels? Prior to the survey, we already began changes within the Visitors Center to support our local businesses by beginning the redesign of our business resource change to reflect what our industry partners in town are asking, hiring an outreach coordinator, and bringing back a great event calendar to allow guests to plan a trip to see us and then let them see what there is to do while they’re here, like seeing live music at Brown County Inn, or maybe even playing euchre on a Tuesday night.”
Within the priorities listed in the results, paid advertising campaigns, having a physical Visitor’s Center and posting organic social media content top the rankings for what Brown Countians would like to see more of.
One thing that was evident in the survey is that many people are not familiar with innkeeper’s tax and how it works, according to the CVB.
The county innkeeper’s tax is a county tax on the rental of rooms and accommodations for periods of less than 30 days, according to the Indiana Department of Revenue.
It is applied in addition to state sales tax. Accommodations can include rooms in hotels, lodges, ranches, villas, apartments, houses, bed and breakfasts, resorts, banquet halls, ball rooms, arenas, gymnasiums, tents, fixed trailers, campers and more.
“Our biggest challenge as we move forward is gaining a permanent multi-year contract with the CVC,” said Tadlock. “We have had great discussions during the respective board meetings and feel confident about getting it done sooner rather than later. This will allow us to hire an executive director that will be a great partner for the community, someone to execute the strategic plan crafted by the great input and report back to the community the results of those endeavors.”
The CVC entered into a five-year contract with the CVB in 2018 with the intent of the CVB marketing tourism and administering the Visitor’s Center. In 2022 the CVB bought the Camelot building where the current Visitor’s Center is located (211 S. Van Buren St.) for $985,000 with a $225,000 down payment and a five-year term with a balloon payment of $693,000 due Jan. 1, 2027. This purchase was made without the support of the CVC, according to the CVB.
At the end of 2023, the CVC requested an audit of financials and granted a three-month contract. While the audit was delayed, the CVC granted contracts on a monthly basis. This year, the idea was presented of not renewing the contract with the CVB and instead granting it to the Brown County Music Center to administer the Visitor’s Center. The marketing would still remain with a marketing committee and the funds would be kept separate, according to the CVB.
The CVC’s next meeting is at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Event Center at the Seasons Lodge, 560 State Road 46. The CVB will meet Tuesday at Cornerstone Inn.
The Democrat’s attempts to contact the CVC were unsuccessful.
