Friday, January 9, 2004
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Friday, January 9, 2004 |
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Tourism Assn. continues to evolve By J. FRANK LYNCH The makeup of the Peachtree City Tourism Association’s Board of Directors, the center of a spat in November that canceled a City Council meeting, may look dramatically different as early as September. Monday night, the City Council approved a lease agreement with the PCTA to operate the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater and Peachtree City Tennis Center starting Jan. 19, as well as a combined Tourism Association budget that includes completely independent spending plans for each venues. But a number of changes to the PCTA’s “Articles of Incorporation” took up most of the discussion, specifically those sections about who should serve on the tourism board and for how long. Meeting last week, the tourism board elected to change the makeup of the appointed group at the end of 2004, to include two citizens, one council member, the chairman of the city’s Recreation Commission and the city manager or his “designee.” Currently, the board includes two councilmen and the city’s finance director, Paul Salvatore. From the audience, former Falcon Field Manager Jim Savage pointed out that the bylaws didn’t mention length of term. Mayor Steve Brown offered that two-year terms, staggered with no consecutive terms allowed would suffice, expressing fears that lengthy service would somehow encourage members to profit. Councilman Steve Rapson, chairman of the PCTA Board, proposed three-year terms, also staggered. New Councilman Stuart Kourajian asked why a member of the council had to be on the board at all. “I think you may be shooting yourself in the foot,” said Murray Weed, the other councilman on the tourism board, arguing for longer terms and keeping a City Council representative on the board indefinitely. “We felt like the venues may have suffered in the past from a lack of attention and support from the council,” said Weed, who stressed financial accountability. In the end, the four councilmen (with Judi-ann Rutherford abstaining) agreed to reconsider the makeup of the board of directors, as well as the financial stability of the organization, near the start of the city’s fiscal year on Oct. 1, and act accordingly. The council also signed off on the $2.47 million Tourism Association budget, which includes a $636,015 tennis center budget and $1.379 million amphitheater budget. As spelled out in the PCTA’s bylaws, each facility will maintain separate accounts with no crossing over of funds. Such mixing of revenues was common under the management of the Development Authority of Peachtree City. Additionally, neither will receive a penny of the city’s hotel-motel tax revenue this year, operating solely on funds self-generated, and both are projected to end the fiscal year next fall with money in the bank. The amphitheater ended last season showing a pro€t of more than $110,000. But the tennis center, which opened in 1995, has never broken even, although it is projected to this year under the PCTA’s management. Separately, the tourism association is setting aside $509,175 in a “general fund” that will pay for administrative costs and, ultimately they hope, tourism-related events. Of that, $409,175 is the revenue generated from the city’s hotel-motel tax, which is going into an account held by the city’s recreation commission until the non-profit status of the PCTA is settled. Salvatore said a consultant working on behalf of the PCTA’s tax-exempt application gave a positive report recently, but there’s still no guarantee the IRS will allow the PCTA to manage the guest tax. Even if those funds aren’t made available, it won’t affect the operations of either of the venues, Salvatore pointed out, because they no longer rely on the tax revenue. It would, however, force the PCTA to reconsider its goal of taking on the expense of hosting special events, various maintenance tasks and other expenses now covered in the city’s general fund such as the July 4th Parade, Great Georgia Air Show and cart path maintenance.
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