By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The tourism commission for the city of Grayson met in a special meeting last week (June 25) to discuss the budget for the upcoming year. The commission reviewed the budget for both the tourism commission and for Grayson Sports Park at the meeting.
“We have income from various events,” Commission President Daniel White told the commission.
Some of those events included the Easter Egg Hunt, the Block Party, and Hometown Holidays. White also mentioned the transient room tax, which provides the largest amount of income directly into the tourism account. The amount of the transient room tax is estimated to be $58,00 next year.
“We have added a line (to the budget) this year,” White told the commission. “This is a portion of the restaurant tax that is being put directly into the tourism account.”
“We have always said that we are a tourism board and not a sports park board,” White told the commission. “And I think this represents our commitment to Grayson Tourism in general. We are still funding the sports park, and we still have a lot of initiatives to tackle in that area. But this is the beginning of seeing some of those funds moved for general tourism in Grayson. We need to be supporting the broader picture and what our role in that is.”
White then shifted the focus to the amount of funding.
“Total income is estimated to be $188,000,” White said.
White told the commission that the expenses for the tourism account reflect an increased commitment to advertising and marketing and is budgeted at $45,000. That increase, White said, was the result of numerous previous discussions.
Capital expenditures, White discussed with the commission, was set at $85,000 and is primarily intended for work to be done at the Blue Goose property. The budget allowed for $20,000 to support fairs and events that will take place throughout the year. General operating expenses throughout the year were anticipated to be about $15,000. White said that total expenses for the year were projected to be $188,000.
The commission also discussed the sports park budget.
“We are projecting a restaurant tax revenue of $1,054,900,” White said. “That is higher than the current year to date, but that does include the reduction of the $110,000 that is being moved over to the tourism account. We anticipate providing $922,000 restaurant tax income directly to the sports park, and there is an additional $130,000 in concession revenue and $20,000 in field rentals for a total of 1.3 million dollars.”
Expenses for the sports park included administration fees of $24,000, a consistent bond payment of $424,000, and payroll expenses. White said there has been a lot of discussion involved in projecting the payroll (their second largest expense) at the sports park following the resignation of the former park manager, and the necessity of breaking the lion’s share of his duties into two separate positions. Those changes, White told the commission, were reflected in the $236,000 listed. Total payroll expense is listed in the budget at $322,000.
Sports Park Capital Expenditures are budgeted at $324,000. This reflects projects such as pickleball and basketball courts, and grant matching funds. Concession expenditures were listed at $71,000, with an expected net return of $70,000. After further discussion, budgets for the tourism commission and the sports park were voted on and approved.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
