Lodgers tax board makes funding suggestions

The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Board last week recommended using nearly $70,000 in promotional motel tax funds for festivals or tourism entities in the 2023 fiscal year, plus another $23,200 in executive motel tax funds for non-promotional projects.

Tucumcari’s city manager also warned the promoter for the Rockin’ Route 66 festival — the city’s largest event before the COVID-19 pandemic — may cancel this year’s festival in June or the 2023 edition because of his financial difficulties and the board recommending less than a third of the funding he requested in an amended application.

The board’s recommendations go to the Tucumcari City Commission, which can concur with or override those funding amounts at its meeting Thursday.

The board held two work sessions in March to let festival organizers or entities make presentations and discuss possible financial aid using motel tax funds. On Wednesday, the board voted to recommend these amounts using promotional funds:

• $28,000 to the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce;

• $7,386.29 to Rattler Reunion;

• $9,000 to the Fired Up Festival;

• $2,000 for Down at the Depot summer events;

• $3,325 for Tucumcari Historical Museum events;

• $20,000 to Rockin’ Route 66.

The board also recommended using lodgers tax executive funds for these projects:

• $10,200.38 to Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce;

• $12,000 to Rotary Club for its planned Tucumcari Mountain “T” renovation project;

• $1,000 to the Tucumcari Historical Museum for lighting and electrical repairs.

Tucumcari Rawhide Days did not submit an application for the 2023 fiscal year.

City Finance Director Rachelle Arias reported the city’s motel tax revenue had exceeded the current fiscal year’s projections $48,000, with several months remaining.

Before discussing amounts in earnest, board Chairman Matt Bednorz said he was reluctant to let total aid requests exceed $75,000. He noted motel tax revenue, while robust, may not be as strong in future years.

City manager Mark Martinez agreed: “We can fund all this, but we want to be conservative with the budget.”

Bednorz and the board nixed a $19,500 request from the historical museum to hire a second employee because they didn’t want to make it a recurring cost. The board and Martinez also questioned the return on investment of an $18,000 request to repair windows and doors at the museum and nixed that, as well.

Regarding the museum’s $1,800 request to repair two existing billboards, Martinez said fulfilling it is not legal for privately owned billboards. The board rejected that request. The board did recommend granting the museum’s $3,325 request for three events it would host.

Though Rattler Reunion’s application was late, Martinez recommended funding the full amount because the organization does a good job accounting for the number of visitors during that weekend. Board member Lila Doughty said: “We’re getting a good return on investment.”

The board recommended funding the full amount requested by the Rotary Club’s plan to improve and brighten the “T” on Tucumcari Mountain but that executive — or non-promotional — funds be used for it instead.

Board members, including Al Patel, said they were “very comfortable” with Tucumcari MainStreet’s requests for Fired Up and Down at the Depot events and recommended the full amounts with little additional discussion.

Rockin’ Route 66

The promoter for Rockin’ Route 66, scheduled for late June, initially submitted just before the deadline an application requesting $25,000 for the festival. Georgia-based promoter Brian Whitcomb did not attend any of the work sessions about fund requests in March.

Reached by Martinez’s cellphone during Wednesday’s meeting, Whitcomb said he submitted an amended application and was requesting $69,000 for the festival. The amount he voiced over speakerphone produced gasps and a few titters of laughter from board members and audience members.

Bednorz thanked Whitcomb and essentially ended the call.

“There’s no way in hell we’re going to give $69,000,” Bednorz said after the call. Another board member called the sum “outrageous.”

Patel also questioned that amount, noting Rockin’ Route 66 is organized by a for-profit entity. Bednorz said lodgers tax revenue in June 2021 was the second-highest in city history without the festival. Rockin’ Route 66 was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Martinez said he feared Whitcomb would cancel the 2022 or 2023 festival, or both.

“To be honest, I’m not sure it’s going to take place,” Martinez said, citing inflationary and fuel-cost pressures. “I doubt we’ll have this next year.”

Whitcomb, through his Grease Inc. Magazine account, stated on social media in late March “we will be moving on to new adventures and stepping away from many of our known events and routines” because “we’ve seen ourselves in a constant fight to maintain a consistent viable source of revenue for our brands and our crew to live.”

In a comment thread on that post, Whitcomb said his people “have not called it yet” on whether Rockin’ Route 66 would happen.

The Rockin’ Route 66 website and Facebook page also hadn’t been updated since the fall of 2021.

A phone message left for Whitcomb was not returned.

Events coordinator

Martinez presented the board with a proposed contract with the chamber of commerce to serve as an events coordinator.

The chamber would be hired for $1,250 a month through the rest of the fiscal year in late June, with the option of another contract in fiscal year 2023. The contract would be presented officially to the city commission this week.

Martinez said he hoped to have a revival of the city’s long-dormant Pinata Festival in early June to replace the New Mexico Music Showcase but acknowledged chamber director Scott Crotzer may not have enough time.

If Rockin’ Route 66 cancels, Martinez said perhaps the Pinata Festival could be moved to the late June slot or perhaps a tourism offseason event in October. Several board members expressed preference for a fall festival.

Murals

Former Tucumcari artist Doug Quarles, who now lives in Arizona, presented an assessment of the condition of about two dozen murals, many which he created.

He said “almost everything has to be redone” on the murals due to peeling and fading, and the total cost of renovating the murals would be $139,600.

Quarles said he understood that would be too expensive to do all at once and recommended piecemeal repairs to the murals that most need it — namely “The Legendary Road” mural on the east side of Lowe’s Grocery and another large mural near Tucumcari General Insurance Agency on Second Street.

Patel said Quarles will have to see whether the property owners are willing to assume some of the costs of repairs.

Mindful of the state’s anti-donation clause, Martinez said he also would have to check with the city’s legality in repairing some murals. He acknowledged the murals are a big tourism attraction, and “we’ve got to do this the legal way.”