Minutes 05-26-2022 Budget Work Session

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64 Travis Myren said it has been from this funding for several years and Article 46 will always be where they try to pay for the incentives first. Commissioner Richards asked if that is enough and if it is limiting. Travis Myren said no and given the incentive packages approved to date, will be within the ability for Article 46 to cover those. Commissioner Richards asked about collaborative outreach with the towns. Travis Myren said these funds have been made available to the town. Steve Brantley said the Board allocated $60,000 to be split between 3 towns and it is calculated on a per capita basis. He said that Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, and Mebane receive money based on size (in that order). He said that the Town of Hillsborough used it to make ADA accessibility changes to increase tourism access. He said that Chapel Hill is using it for LAUNCH Incubator and Carrboro used it for a music festival. He said that there is a request for the towns to report back on the metrics. Commissioner Fowler asked if $1.2 million is the amount that will be available to use next year because it is budgeted in reserves. Travis Myren said yes. Commissioner Fowler asked if anything is not spent in Article 46 it goes to reserve funds. Travis Myren said yes. Commissioner McKee said he thinks that Wegmans falls off this year or next year. Travis Myren said that Wegmans had to delay, and this will be year one. Steve Brantley said all of the retail sales tax generated goes to county's general fund. He said that the incentive payments back to the company come out of Article 46, so the general fund is netting 25% in the first five years of any industrial projects, and in year six 100% of the revenues go to the County. Commissioner McKee said he appreciates that explanation, because regardless of the incentive, there is always a net positive for the county. He said that the sales tax or property tax would always exceed the incentives from the county. Commissioner Hamilton asked why some arts funds are not in the arts category as part of the visitor's bureau. Travis Myren said the distinction is that more specialized or one-time items are paid out of Article 46. He said this could always be done differently in the future. Bonnie Hammersley said these events are classified as economic development and how that crosses over. Chair Price said this is a national movement. Commissioner Hamilton said the visitor's bureau is always about economic development and it seems to be an arbitrary differentiation. Chair Price said the point is to support artists that are here as part of the economy but not always to bring in a lot of tourists. Commissioner Hamilton said it is all ultimately about economic development, so it does not make sense to her to have differentiation. She thinks they should all be put into the visitor's bureau budget. Chair Price said it really is an economic development driver and it is more than tourism. Commissioner Hamilton asked if it was last year that Economic Development moved to being paid from Article 46. Bonnie Hammersley said yes and by doing that, they are following the model of visitor's bureau being covered by occupancy tax and economic development by Article 46. Commissioner McKee asked Laurie Paolicelli to speak on the social media efforts the Visitors Bureau made.