Tourist Commission Looks To Make Tough Budget Decisions

Robert Moore
Herald Staff
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The Harrodsburg-Mercer County Tourist Commission is looking to make what may end up being some unpopular decisions as members seek a way to balance the organization’s budget going into the new fiscal year.

At the board of directors meeting held Wednesday, May 8, they learned that 10 months into the current fiscal year, the organization was in the hole a little over $69,000, according to treasurer Bob Gigliotti. Gigliotti said the organization was running a surplus last year at this time. He said income was down $180,000 compared to the year before, which he attributed to a lack of ARPA funding and a drop in the dining tax revenue.

Gigliotti said the tourist commission has received 66 percent of what they budgeted for total income for the full year, and they would have to “take a hard look at some of our expenses.”

Several of the board members said they were seeing a decrease in business from the highs they saw after COVID-19 restrictions ended, but even then business was still better than before the pandemic struck. In previous years, the tourist commission—which has been accused of hoarding money in the past—went into new budget period with a rollover.

“This year we’re not going to do that,” Gigliotti said. “If something happens in the next two months, we’re going to be in the hole.”

Gigliotti said the funding requests for local events is $100,000 more than last year, and Daarik Gray, executive director of the tourist commission, pointed out that’s without the 250th celebration.

Gray said he is looking at cutting money the tourist commission has paid for photography, videography, billboards and signage. He brought up getting rid of Placer.ai, a location intelligence and foot traffic data software that the tourist commission subscribed to last year.

“It’s caused us a lot of problems,” Gray said. While the company claims 92 to 96 percent accuracy, some have objected to the results, noting that the software does not count people who don’t have cellphones. Some of the complaints have come from the tourist commission’s board of directors.

“I like it,” said Tiffany Yeast, the chair of the board of directors. While the software has its challenges, Yeast said estimations based on garbage collection and license plates also have challenges. Some organizations—including Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill—have approached the tourist commission for information collected by Placer.ai.

“We have a job to do as far as in terms of making a budget,” Yeast said. She asked the board to make suggestions.

“People will be asking some questions,” said board member David Coleman, who suggested the budget committee create talking points.

The tourist commission’s budget has to be finalized at their next meeting.