Tax board recommends pricing structure

The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board on Wednesday formally recommended a new pricing structure for use of the Tucumcari Convention Center, along with a few additions that included a rental fee for use of the parking lot only.

That recommendation and others will be heard by the Tucumcari City Commission during its next meeting Nov. 18, which can accept, modify or reject them. The commission also can decide whether to have the new rates go into effect Jan. 1 or when new fiscal year begins July 1.

During previous meetings and a work session with City Manager Mark Martinez, the board came to a consensus to raise the center’s rental fees 4% compounded annually since 2015, the last time rates were raised. The fee structure recommended last week largely followed those lines.

Board Chairman Matt Bednorz shepherded the proposed changes in the center’s pricing, noting other facilities in the region were charging more. Martinez and city liaison Todd Duplantis largely concurred with Bednorz’s opinion, noting the center needs to raise revenue to pay for maintenance and improvements.

The proposed new fees, versus the current rate:

• Entire facility for commercial usage: $1,025, versus current $800;

• Entire facility for nonprofit use: $750, versus $600;

• Tucumcari Room for commercial: $800, versus $500;

• Tucumcari Room nonprofit use: $600, versus $400;

• Nara Visa Room commercial: $200, versus $150;

• Nara Visa Room nonprofit: $125, versus $100;

• House and Logan Rooms commercial: $125, versus $100;

• House and Logan Room nonprofit: $100, versus $75 (damage deposit rises from $50 to $75 for both types of usage);

• Lobby and patio: $125, versus $100;

• Montoya board room: $200, versus $150;

• Liberty Room commercial: $125, versus $100;

• Liberty Room nonprofit: $100, versus $75;

• Del Norte Center: $125, versus $75 (with damage deposit rising from $75 to $125);

• Set-up fee: $150;

• Cleanup fee: $60;

• Bar usage $50 an hour;

• Security $60 an hour (can go higher if more officers are needed).

The board also recommended a $250 fee for use of the convention center’s parking lot. Martinez said such an arrangement probably will require portable bathrooms, security fee and cleanup fee.

Martinez said anyone who recently has booked the convention center will be “grandfathered in” with their current fees even if pricing changes are enacted later this month.

In other business by the board:

• It recommended spending $38,757.16 in lodgers tax executive funds to repair a leak and drainage problems on the convention center’s north side. Martinez said the work will fix a water barrier and brickwork, plus mediate any possible mold.

It also recommended spending about $155,000 in executive funds to change most of the center’s flooring to polished concrete except for the large Tucumcari Room, which will have carpet tiles. Martinez said the carpeting, which dates to the facility’s opening, is “atrocious.”

Martinez said other quotes for the flooring were $182,000 and $192,000.

Bednorz said he was supportive of convention center upgrades, especially with its mortgage paid off and motel tax revenue looking good.

“Now is the time to fix the convention center,” he said. “It’s time to get moving. I think it’s one of our biggest assets.”

Martinez said he hopes to have the work done by mid-December. He said more convention center work on the horizon includes repainting, new signs and improving the parking lot.

• It recommended $6,000 in executive funds to Carlos Medina of Santa Fe to shoot additional footage next month, mostly along the Route 66 corridor, for a travelogue documentary.

Martinez recommended Medina shoot footage at the Tucumcari Zia Club, Roadrunner Lodge Motel, Tucumcari Railroad Museum, Palomino Motel, Loretta’s Burrito Hut and the New Mexico Route 66 Museum.

Medina said those sites will add about 10 to 12 minutes to about 38 minutes he’s produced of the program.

The city commission in April approved $15,000 in lodgers tax funds to Medina to produce “Aventuras Encantandas,” or “Enchanted Adventures.”

• The board set a special meeting for 10 a.m. Nov. 10 to consider recommending the use of lodger tax funds send a city delegate to an American Bus Association gathering in Grapevine, Texas, to pitch Tucumcari as a tour bus destination in 2023.

David Brenner, owner of the Roadrunner Lodge Motel and former board chairman, said each tour bus that stops overnight generates at least $5,000 in economic activity. The event in Texas allows representatives to pitch their town’s attractions to dozens of tour bus companies in seven-minute appointments that Brenner compared to “speed dating.”

“This hits a new demographic we haven’t been targeting,” he said of tour buses.

He proposed the use of at least $1,700 in lodgers tax funds to register a delegate for the event.

Martinez said he was supportive but cautioned the pitch must be inclusive to qualify for such funds.

“If it promotes everything, it’s justified,” he said, adding the funds can cover registration expenses but not per diem expenses such as meals, gas and hotel rooms.

Scott Crotzer, director fo the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce, said he was willing to be a delegate for the event. Bednorz also recommended the city’s marketing firm look over the pitch document beforehand.

• Connie Loveland of Tucumcari MainStreet and Crotzer said the recent Tucumscary event on Halloween weekend drew 32 entities participating in trick-or-treat giveaways and “blew everyone’s expectations away” with the crowds it drew, Loveland said.

Crotzer said a pumpkin carving contest at the Tucumcari Historical Museum drew 22 entries and more than 1,000 visitors.

Loveland said the recent success of a Haunted Walking Tour of downtown might be replicated or expanded during next year’s Tucumcari Rawhide Festival.

Crotzer said membership in the chamber has risen from 73 in May to 122 as of last week.

• In response to a question from board member Al Patel, Martinez said Tucumcari Municipal Airport doesn’t provide courtesy cars to pilots at the facility due to liability concerns. Martinez acknowledged a few pilots stopped flying into Tucumcari because it lacked that service but noted several businesses provide rides to and from the airport.