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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-08-10 Tourism Business Improvement District Minutes Tourism Business Improvement District Minutes of Meeting September 8, 2010 Chamber of Commerce Building, Bozeman Montana Present: Daryl Schliem (Executive Director) Jim Robbins (Sales Development) Board Members: Andrew Ash, Lynn Bendz (sec), Mark Jones (president), Tim Kuhlman, Steve Sparks, Tom Stenzel Advisory Board Members: Dan Martin, Chris Mehl, Dan Rust, Melanie Stocks Public: Larry Lambert (Bozeman Super 8) Mark Jones opened the meeting at noon asking for any disclosures and there were none. He then asked for any public comment and there was none. The minutes from the August 23 meeting were approved on voice approval, no dissent. Larry Lambert asked that the TBID board consider adding another person to the board. This person would be the annually elected president of the Bozeman/Belgrade Hotel/Motel Association and would rotate each year. Chris Mehl said that it could be done. Steve Sparks suggested we put this item on the agenda for our next meeting, and so it will be discussed then. Larry asked Melanie Stocks if the University was renting rooms by the night and if so, were they paying bed tax and specifically, were they paying the Bozeman bed tax? Yes and No. Yes, they do rent a few rooms but remit only the state 7% bed tax. But they rent rooms infrequently, and only to groups using their facilities. Chris Mehl said he would contact the city legal department and see what they recommend. Jim Robbins discussed ethics and handed out the city guide book. Each person on the board and advisory board also had to sign that they had received the book. Jim said that 25 of the 27 Bozeman motels had returned the quarterly tax report. Larry Lambert questioned the secrecy of the submitted information and Jim responded that only he and Daryl Schliem were permitted to see the individual motel statistics. However, it was also mentioned by others that each motel’s rental information can be gleaned from the public tax records. Jim said that from the submitted tax information, he had calculated a net motel occupancy rate (after subtracting exempt room nights) of 42% for the reporting period--November 2009 through June 2010. Everyone felt that the figure was too low and that Jim better recalculate. Based upon the tax reports--$200,000 in bed tax receipts will be submitted by the motels. Jim has met with 20 of the 27 motels in the taxing district. Jim Robbins passed around to each of us a new bed tax form which will be sent quarterly to each motel in our district. This will coincide with the state bed tax which is reported quarterly too. Jim pointed out that the new tax form included a notice that late filers were subject to a $500 penalty plus 1.2% interest on the unpaid tax balance. Larry Lambert said that he believed that the Missoula TBID would bill any motel that did not submit a report an invoice reflecting that the delinquent motel had a 100% occupancy during the tax period. This would serve as a real “wake up” notice to the tardy motel. Daryl Schliem asked the board what the lowest threshold for room sales would be which would activate the individual bidding process of each motel for the conference. What if the group only needed 20 rooms? 10 rooms? Much discussion but no definitive answer. Melanie Stock reported that the university had made space available for the all class wrestling matches on Feb 16, 17 and 18, 2011 and the boys class a basketball tournament March 3, 4, and 5, 2011. Dan Rust said we would need lots of volunteers for these events. Elections of new officers for the next year followed. Tim Kuhlman was elected unanimously to be president, replacing Mark Jones. Andrew Ash was elected unanimously to be vice chair, replacing Steve Sparks. Tom Stenzel was elected unanimously to be treasurer again. Lynn Bendz was elected unanimously to be secretary again. Motion to adjourn at 1pm by Andrew Ash, seconded by Lynn Bendz, all approved. 