Hilton Head chamber gets $535K of tax money in extra grant. Here’s who didn’t get a dime

Twenty-nine organizations will split over $4.3 million in accommodations tax money that tourists paid when they visited Hilton Head Island last year.

The biggest recipients of the 2019 A-TAX grants?

The Town of Hilton Head Island and the Hilton Head Island- Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.

A-TAX is dubbed the “tourist tax” because it’s added onto any hotel room rental on the island, so a majority of the $4.3 million comes from visitors.

By state law, 30 percent of all A-TAX revenue must go to the town’s Destination Marketing Organization, which on Hilton Head is the chamber of commerce. Local organizations also can apply for an A-TAX grant if the organization can prove it serves tourists.

Each year, the accommodations tax advisory committee reviews the applications and makes recommendations for splitting up the grant money. Then, Town Council can adjust those figures and vote to award the “tourist tax” funds.

Where the money won’t go

Not all of the applications received funding from the revenue.

Here’s who didn’t get any A-TAX funding for 2019 and the committee’s explanation:

• Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce (BCBCC): “Potential DMO overlap” (described below).
  
  
• BusinessATTRACT Development fund: “Not secured necessary documentation of forming a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit.”
  
  
• Hilton Head Island Carolina Shag Club: “Low number of tourists” impacted
  
  
• Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra (Sound Waves fund): “Renovation of leased space...not the best use of A-TAX dollars.”
  
  
• Memory Matters: “Marketing reach... not aggressive as it could be.”
  
  
• The Coastal Discovery Museum (Marketing Plan fund): History, culture, arts and culinary marketing plan may be “best suited for... the Hilton Head Island- Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.”
  
  

According to A-TAX grant request records, none of the above organizations applied for an A-TAX grant last year.

The committee determined that the Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce’s (BCBCC) mission of promoting cultural tourism has potential overlap with the DMO, and the group will receive no funding this year.

But Larry Holman, the president of the BCBCC, is concerned that the DMO, which the committee called the “primary driver of tourism to the island,” isn’t equally supporting the entire island.

“The DMO is not advertising to my people,” Holman told The Island Packet in November. “We are the only entity that advertises (black) culture and history.”

Brad Marra, chairman of the A-TAX committee, said in November that the black chamber did more regional work in promoting tourism than marketing specific to Hilton Head.

Holman disagreed with that characterization.

He said the BCBCC releases a yearly visitor’s guide to Beaufort County, which includes a page about Gullah-Geechee historical sites on the island and advertisements for black-owned businesses.

“They don’t contribute one dollar to that visitor’s guide,” Holman said of the Hilton Head A-TAX committee.

The BCBCC received $215,000 in A-TAX funding from Beaufort County and Bluffton, according to its 2018 budget.

Where the money will go

Here are the applicants who will receive full funding based on the application’s request:

• Harbour Town Merchants Association: $21,000, which is $1,000 more than last year.
  
  
• Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra (operations): $250,000, which is the same amount as last year.
  
  
• Lowcountry Golf Course Owners Association: $50,000, which is the same amount as last year.
  
  
• Skull Creek July 4th Celebration: $17,737, which is $1,487 more than last year.
  
  
• The Boys & Girls Club of Hilton Head: $20,000, which is $1,700 more than last year.
  
  
• The Coastal Discovery Museum (operations): $285,000, which is $6,000 more than last year.
  
  
• The First Tee of the Lowcountry (operations): $25,000, which is $5,000 more than last year.
  
  
• The Heritage Library: $58,000, which is $2,000 less than last year.
  
  
• The Sandbox: $45,895, which is $4,605 less than last year.
  
  

Chamber’s marketing plan gets approval

After approving the A-TAX grant recommendations — which included an award of $535,000 to the island chamber — council members also approved the chamber’s yearly marketing plan for how it will spend an additional 30 percent of A-TAX revenue it automatically receives as the DMO.

The marketing plan has non-specific budget lines and high spending on things like “social media” and “leisure fulfillment,” The Island Packet has previously reported.

When council first discussed this year’s marketing plan in August, former Mayor David Bennett and former council member Kim Likins tried to force the chamber to give quarterly reports of how it spends the nearly $2 million in A-TAX funds. The issue was sent to the finance and administrative committee.

In October, that committee heard recommendations for transparency from two citizens appointed to review the chamber’s contract with the town.

The recommendations included adding citizens on the DMO and town committees for oversight and most notably, giving the chamber notice that the town would not renew its contract in 2020 and put out a competitive bid request for the DMO job.

With the approval of the marketing plan, new chair of the finance and administrative committee Tom Lennox said the citizen recommendations are “still on the table.”

The committee will continue considering the suggestions in January.

Where the rest of the applicants fall

The rest of the 29 applicants fall somewhere in the middle — they got some money, but not all they asked for.

When Town Council voted on the committee’s recommendations, Mayor John McCann revised two award amounts. He moved to add an additional $5,000 to the Hilton Head Gullah Museum grant and an additional $40,000 to the Hilton Head Island Airport. Those additions passed.

McCann said the additional money for the Gullah Museum will come from the town’s A-TAX grant, and the airport’s grant award — which was effectively doubled by McCann — will come from the town’s U.S. 278 beautification fund.

Here’s who got the same amount of A-TAX funding as last year:

• Art League of Hilton Head: $65,000
  
  
• Arts Center of Coastal Carolina: $400,000
  
  
• Hilton Head Choral Society: $40,000

• Hilton Head Dance Theater: $15,000
  
  
• HHI Rec Association (Wingfest & Oyster Festival): $25,000
  
  
• HHI Wine and Food, Inc.: $130,000

• Lean Ensemble Theatre: $30,000
  
  
• Main Street Youth Theater: $15,000
  
  

Here are the organizations that got more than they received last year:

• HHI-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce VCB: $535,000 ($50,000 more)
  
  
• Hilton Head Concours d’Elegance: $250,000 ($30,000 more)
  
  
• Mitchelville Preservation Project: $172,500 ($12,500 more)

• Native Island Business & Community: $120,000 ($10,000 more)
  
  
• David M. Carmines Memorial Foundation: $100,000 ($9,000 more)
  
  
• Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island: $55,000 ($5,000 more)

• Shelter Cove Harbour Company: $80,000 ($3,200 more)
  
  
• HHI St. Patrick’s Day Parade: $20,000 ($2,420 more)
  
  

Here are the organizations that got less than they received last year:

• Hilton Head Island Airport: $80,000 ($20,000 less)
  
  
• Town of Hilton Head Island (operations): $1,389,630 ($10,370 less)
  
  
• The Heritage Library (history day): $6,946 ($9,954 less)
  
  

Here are the organizations that received partial funding this year but did not apply last year:

• Hilton Head Island Bridge Association: $20,000
  
  
• The Coastal Discovery Museum (disc golf event): $25,000
  
  
• The Heritage Library (Zion history park): $55,000

• The Outside Foundation: $8,500
  
  
• Town of Hilton Head Island (lantern parade event): $10,000
  
  

This story was originally published December 21, 2018 at 3:15 PM.