For the past 12 years, the city of Cottonwood has been in an agreement with the city’s Chamber of Commerce, providing 85% of revenues brought in by the city’s bed tax to pay for the operations of the business coalition.
In the coming year, the city will continue to have a financial arrangement with the chamber, but rather than giving them a portion of the taxes that come in, the organization will receive a lump sum of $230,000, dispersed monthly at a rate of $19,166.67.
“We really wanted to just set a base amount that they could budget and plan for, and see if they could meet our expectations and us theirs,” City Manager Ron Corbin said at a Cottonwood City Council meeting on Aug. 6, when the council approved the new contract. “My guess is we might go back to a percent-based [plan] next year.”
The lump sum is based on last year’s total. According to Chamber of Commerce President Christian Oliva del Rio, for each of the past 12 years, the bed tax has increased by at least 6% compared to the previous year. He feels that if the chamber had continued to get funding via the old system, they could have perhaps gotten more through higher tourism and hotel revenue than the $230,000 promised by the city.
“A percentage is performance-based. The better we do, the more money we make,” Oliva del Rio said. He nevertheless appreciated working with the city and expressed no misgivings about the change in the contract. “The work we’re doing, we’re seeing it pay off.”
Corbin said that the lump sum would hopefully also insulate the chamber against a potential economic downturn in the near future.
In addition to changing the payment setup for the chamber, the city hopes to receive increased updates from the group of their efforts, in order to let the city know what the chamber is up to. The contract specifies the need for both annual and quarterly reports given to city administrators.
“One of the biggest things that I’ve asked is to really toot their horn, so we know what they’re doing,” Corbin said at the meeting.
Oliva del Rio believes that the chamber’s efforts will pay off with increased tourism to the area. He points to recent efforts such as the hiring of Heather Hermen as a consultant to work with the Arizona Department of Tourism and increase the town’s marketing. He pointed to recent efforts by the state government, including more funding for wine country tourism. Oliva del Rio highlighted recent familiarization tours given to travel journalists and tourism departments in other countries, trying to put the Verde Valley on the map.
“We bring them in, give them a tour of the entire area,” Oliva del Rio said. “And then these people go back to their countries and spread the word.”
