Tax board talks motel-tax receipts

Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board members extensively discussed an unexpectedly large decrease in motel-tax receipts in July and wondered whether it would develop into a long-term trend.

Finance Director Rachelle Arias said during the board’s regular meeting Wednesday total motel-tax receipts in July were $55,701, which was a 16% drop from the $64,919 collected during the same month a year ago.

The June collection period saw receipts of $64,823, down 2% from the $66,357 collected a year ago. For the fiscal year to date, Arias said collections were within 1% of the expected amount.

Board member Al Patel, owner of the Desert Inn motel, said he was “confident” August receipts, which will be reported next month, also would be down from a year ago and it would be a trend.

Board Chairman Larry Smith, who owns the Motel Safari, said he’s been told the same number of Route 66 travelers are in Tucumcari as last year, but fewer stay overnight. He also said Santa Rosa has become more aggressive in luring tourists.

“We’re letting Santa Rosa take some of our traffic,” Smith said. “Even the Blue Swallow Motel has seen less traffic.”

City manager Britt Lusk said if less receipts becomes a trend, he said the fund was budgeted with a small surplus this year, compared to previous budgets containing a deficit. He said if the shortfall persists, it would result in fiscal belt-tightening.

Smith, a critic of the Sunny 505 marketing firm in Albuquerque the city hired to boost tourism, said a motel-tax receipts shortfall should invite more scrutiny of the company’s effectiveness. With reluctance from the board and city commission, Sunny505 recently received a one-year contract extension of $50,000 a year after the city saw a $30,000 increase in motel-tax revenue in the previous fiscal year.

“If we give them the credit” for increases in motel tax revenue, Smith said, “we have to assume (it will get the blame) when it goes down.”

One possible factor in the decline is the number of visitors at the Glenrio Welcome Center near the Texas border has dropped by almost half. Tina McCoy, a supervisor there, said February’s severe windstorms blew down a nearby sign in Texas that informed westbound Interstate 40 travelers of the approaching welcome center. Many travelers now miss the exit and miss out on information about Tucumcari.

She said the state of New Mexico has been trying to work out an agreement with the state of Texas so it could replace the sign — to no avail so far. McCoy said the Glenrio Welcome Center in mid-August set up a temporary booth at nearby Russell’s Travel Center in Endee in an effort to help travelers.

On a related note, Lusk said he still was working on a job description for a marketing person the city will hire to run the city’s social-media accounts. He said the process stalled somewhat because “the commission wants to take (the position) in a different direction.”

Smith said the position, once occupied by former Motel Safari owner Richard Talley on a volunteer basis, has been vacant for months.

“We need to move quickly,” he said. “Other places are willing to take (tourists) away from us.”

In other business during the meeting:

• Patel planned to give a progress report on his efforts to refurbish the big “T” on the north face of Tucumcari Mountain. He removed that from the agenda because he said talks with one of the mesa’s owners, Ron Mueller, had stalled in recent weeks. Patel said he would talk to Lusk and Quay County manager Richard Primrose to see whether they could intervene and restart talks. Patel has proposed low-maintenance solutions to refurbish the “T” after the mountain’s owners restricted access there about two years ago. Tucumcari High School students had repainted the “T” annually since at least the early 1940s.

n In his city manager’s report, Lusk said the city is getting quotes to add tile to the Tucumcari Convention Center’s bathroom walls to make them easier to clean and look more attractive. He said the city might also update the center’s “dated-looking” foyer. Lusk said he might ask for new bids for projectors and screens there after proposals came with a higher cost than expected.

• Todd Duplantis gave a report about the Rattler Reunion. He said it moved “into the black” financially because of cost-cutting, including printing fewer publications and using barbecue instead of catering for one event, and predicted it eventually would become self-sufficient again. He said 677 motel nights had been booked for the three-day weekend. He said 378 people registered, though the actual number participating was higher because some alums attended gatherings at restaurants or the golf course instead of at the convention center. The Lodgers Tax Advisory Board gave $4,000 in support for the event.

• Jerry Lopez gave a report on the New Mexico Music Showcase. He said almost 400 tickets were sold for the event, and it produced about $6,000 in beer and liquor sales at the convention center. Attendance dropped this year; Lopez said he couldn’t explain it, other than it occurring during graduation ceremonies and Memorial Day weekend. He said organizers would “do something different” to boost attendance for 2020. The showcase received $9,000 in aid from the board.

• Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce executive director Carmen Runyan gave a few details about the “Very Merry Tucumcari” initiative for the Christmas season for which she’s collaborating with Tucumcari MainStreet executive director Connie Loveland. She said a poster listing holiday events should be ready by mid-November. They plan to do a gift-basket exchange with Raton that would be given away before Valentine’s Day.

• Daniel Zamora invited board members to play at the Robert Lumpkin Memorial Disc Golf Course at Five Mile Park and mentioned a professional tournament booked there on Oct. 19-20. He said the number of rattlesnakes on the course has dropped dramatically in the past two years; he surmised twice-a-year mowings on the fairways disrupt the snakes’ habitat. He said the course has “almost eliminated” illegal dumpings and greatly reduced illegal drug use at the park. Zamora said he was hoping for a federal grant for a new sign at the entrance but acknowledged “I may build it myself” if the process drags on much longer.