Lodgers tax board urges funds for three entities

The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board on Wednesday recommended approval of motel tax fund requests for three entities this year, including for a new co-ed softball tournament in June.

The board also recommended the city issue a request for proposals to hire a new tourism marketing manager to replace the current one whose contract expires this summer.

The recommendations will go on to the Tucumcari city commission, which can approve, reject or modify them.

The board recommended approval of these motel-tax requests with no changes:

— $7,500 in promotional funds to the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce, plus $47,000 in executive motel-tax funds.

Chamber Director Scott Crotzer noted the organization once received $83,000 a year from the city. He said he wants to expand the hours of the Tucumcari Visitors Center in the chamber building with the hiring of a part-time employee. He said that would enable it to greet 3,000 to 4,000 tourists per year.

“(Tucumcari is) an international attraction without trying,” Crotzer said of the its Route 66. “We need to feed that.”

Crotzer added he greeted tourists from Spain, Italy and France the previous day.

“It’s imperative the city has a chamber that’s legitimate,” board member Michael Carlson said of funding the century-old organization. “It legitimizes the city.”

Board Chairman Matt Bednorz said “the city needs to do all it can to support the chamber” and asked whether money could be diverted from economic development or Local Economic Development Act funds. That request ended up being part of the motion with the funding request.

— $6,900 to the Fired Up festival, organized by Tucumcari MainStreet, on Sept. 9.

Board member Al Patel, noting the festival had requested $9,000 in previous years, said the event was becoming more self-sufficient.

Connie Loveland, executive director of Tucumcari MainStreet, said the Rollerz Only Car Cub is planning one of its stops in Tucumcari that day.

Fired Up usually is scheduled in late September, but Loveland made it earlier so it could capitalize on the club’s stop.

— $2,677.45 to B’s Crew to organize a co-ed softball tournament on June 10-11.

Bo Lopez, representing B’s Crew, said he wants to draw teams from Amarillo, Clovis, Dalhart and Santa Rosa and make it an annual event.

Organizers for the Rattler Reunion in August and Tucumcari Rawhide Days on June 16-18 did not submit an application, though board members said they anticipated each would do so at a later date. Rawhide Days also occurs during the current fiscal year.

Another entity that did not submit an application is Rockin’ Route 66, which held its inaugural event in June 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted its cancellation in 2020 and 2021. It also was canceled in 2022 because of financial difficulties encountered by promoter Brian Whitcomb and the board’s reluctance to approve of his request for $69,000 in aid for the music festival.

Commissioner Ralph Moya also was critical of Rockin’ Route 66 using lodgers tax money to put on a meagerly watched livestream event in Georgia in 2020.

Bednorz and other city officials expressed skepticism on the return of investment for a festival in June, when many of the city’s motels already are full with seasonal Route 66 travelers.

City manager Paula Chacon said after the meeting Wednesday she had not heard from Whitcomb since she was hired in August.

Chacon said she planned to annually hold a Cinco de Mayo festival in May, an arts festival in February or March and another festival in September.

Patel recommended a festival in October because of traffic from snowbirds traveling to Arizona and those going to the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque.

Regarding a tourism marketer, board recommended the city issue a request for proposals after current marketer Robyne Beaubien said she did not wish to have her contract renewed.

“Let’s go shopping,” Patel said of possible new bids for the service.

In other business:

— David Raybould, owner of SunVista Outdoor Advertising, said a Colorado woman who owns a large billboard just west of Exit 329 on Interstate 40 is offering it to the city for sale or lease.

Raybould said the 16-by-60-foot renovated billboard is being offered for $80,000, or $1,000 a month for a lease, plus $75 monthly with LED lighting. Printing a vinyl covering for the billboard would cost another $2,100, he said.

Patel asked to have a city attorney look over the proposal to see whether there would be a problem with easements. The board then tabled the proposal.

— Chacon, citing data from the city’s finance department, said Tucumcari has received 83% of its budgeted lodgers tax revenue with the fiscal year 75% finished. She also said attendance at the Tucumcari Railroad Museum also was up this spring.

Patel cautioned that OPEC’s recent announcement to cut oil production likely will result in higher gasoline prices that will reduce summer travel.