Beaufort, Hilton Head chambers of commerce want more county funding
The Beaufort Regional and Hilton Head Island-Bluffton chambers of commerce want to more than quadruple the amount of money they get annually from Beaufort County taxes.
But county leaders are hesitant to endorse any increases, they said this week. The request comes at a time when the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton chamber is already facing additional scrutiny from the Town of Hilton Head Island over how it spends town funding.
The requested money would come from the county's local tax on tourism-related businesses and raise each chamber's current cut from $150,000 each to more than $645,000 each on average, according to chamber calculations.
The extra cash would be used to boost the chambers' ability to market the area, ostensibly increasing tourism, according to Robb Wells, tourism division vice president of the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Ariana Pernice, vice president of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Visitor & Convention Bureau.
Specifically, it would go toward marketing the county's historical sites, called "heritage tourism," and promoting corporate and business retreats, they said.
But the increase could jeopardize many other projects currently funded from the pot of money, warned county chief financial officer Alicia Holland.
"They're not taking into account any of the obligations we have," she said.
That includes money to supplement the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, emergency medical services and park improvements.
Each year, the county collects about $1 million in accommodations taxes on hotels and rentals and another $1.8 million in hospitality taxes on the restaurants and convenience stores those tourists frequent, Holland said.
The county cuts $350,000 off the top and gives it to the local chambers to market the area, she said. The Beaufort and Hilton Head chambers receive $150,000 each and the Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce gets $50,000.
The Beaufort and Hilton Head chambers also each get another roughly $200,000 in accommodations taxes collected in Beaufort County by the state that they receive automatically as the county's designated marketing organizations.
The county automatically transfers $1.2 million of those hospitality taxes to its budget to support the Sheriff's Office, public safety and emergency medical services staff and gear needed to serve the summer visitor influx, Holland said.
Beaufort County Council uses the remaining funds for public projects such as repairing public piers, building parks, supporting the Santa Elena Foundation and building portions of the Spanish Moss Trail. At least $500,000 is already obligated this year and for the past three years the council has spent about $300,000 more from the fund than it took in, Holland added.
The result is a faulty equation -- if the chambers receive the increase, the county wouldn't have the money to support its other pending projects, such as Camp St. Mary's Park or Fort Fremont, said Holland and County Councilman Jerry Stewart, who leads the council's Finance Committee.
"We understand that this comes with (the sacrifice of) some other things, and we're prepared," Wells said. "We want to make sure that as you're investing in tourism development products in your area, we want to be (a bigger) part of the conversation."
But county leaders aren't buying the idea at this point.
"The problem is we do an awful lot of work that supports them without them getting the money," Stewart said. "They have to remember they're getting a sizable amount of money from accommodations tax board that doles out that (state) money ... They couldn't double dip, if you will ... It's not a bottomless pit."
The council has asked the chambers to return to the Finance Committee next month with more specific breakdowns of the finances behind their proposal, Stewart said. Stewart and Holland also are looking at more specifics of what projects the county already has planned for those dollars, he added.
"I'm in no hurry to make decisions on this," Stewart said. "I think we need to be deliberate and get all the facts out."
Meanwhile, the Hilton Head chamber is awaiting new marching orders from the Town of Hilton Head Island. Town Council, headed by Hilton Head Mayor David Bennett, is crafting a first-of-its-kind contract to better trace public funding through the organization. Discussions about the contract are expected in coming months.
Follow reporter Zach Murdock on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Zach and on Facebook at facebook.com/IPBGZach.
Related content:
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- Hilton Head leaders seek more details in chamber of commerce spending , June 20, 2015
- Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce faces tougher scrutiny , March 25, 2015
- Local chambers of commerce seek funding boost from Beaufort County , Oct. 20, 2014
This story was originally published August 23, 2015 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Beaufort, Hilton Head chambers of commerce want more county funding."