Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
partnering with the other entity that has ahotelmotel tax Chapel Hill and equally sharing the <br />costs of promotion <br />Commissioner Nelson said that this issue of Chapel Hill keeping part of these taxes for <br />other purposes is pretty significant He suggested sending a letter to the Town Council asking <br />them to designate 100 of those funds for tourism <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that the VisitorsBureau is one of the most successful <br />economic engines that the County has and it is a very engaged group <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson seconded by Commissioner Pelissier to <br />ask the Chair to send a letter to the Chapel Hill Town Council regarding the hotelmotel tax <br />allocation <br />VOTE UNANIMOUS <br />Commissioner Hemminger asked about Carrboro and Commissioner Nelson said that it <br />has enabling legislation for ahotelmotel tax She suggested talking to the Mayors about this <br />Commissioner Jacobs said to send a letter within the context of this discussion <br />Chair Foushee suggested waiting until Carrboro has a hotel before approaching the <br />Mayor about the allocation of taxes <br />Frank Clifton explained how the taxes are collected for hotels and motels <br />Commissioner Gordon said that the letter should be phrased within the context of the <br />Chapel HillOrange County VisitorsBureau discussion and the pros and cons of this allocation <br />procedure <br />Frank Clifton said that Orange County is using all of the Visitor Bureaustax to promote <br />Chapel HillOrange CountyCarrboroHillsborough tourism The Town of Chapel Hill is <br />collecting roughly the same amount as Orange County and is providing significantly less to <br />promotion If it is a governmental function then Orange County should take advantage of that <br />and maybe use some of it for other functions such as recreational facilities <br />Chair Foushee said that she would craft a letter for review by the Board of County <br />Commissioners members It can be amended if it does not capture what should be said <br />Basically the County puts forward about 900000 as opposed to 250000 that Chapel Hill <br />contributes of the same tax collection This is the issue <br />Commissioner Nelson said that Chapel Hill is aware of this because the Visitors Bureau <br />talks about it every budget year <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs seconded by Commissioner Hemminger <br />to solicit from the Visitors Bureau a response to the Countys inclination to spin off as an <br />independent entity and to tell the pros and cons <br />VOTE UNANIMOUS <br />Orange County Arts Commission <br />Frank Clifton said that this is a unique situation because it is a department with one <br />staff person This was created because there is some State grant money that comes in each <br />year and there has to be a designated body to approve the distribution of those funds The <br />County also provides a match for this function His recommendation is to put money in for this <br />function but there is some overlap within the County and he cannot justify this fulltime <br />position <br />Commissioner Yuhasz said that it is not clear to him what the alternatives are and he <br />would like more information on this <br />Commissioner Nelson said that he has some strong feelings that the arts play a <br />significant role in economic development and he is not convinced that the arrangement is <br />currently working with economic development and the arts in Orange County He wants to