Angry that supervisors are barely funding tourism in the 2019 budget, some local business owners are planning to make a scene Friday, petitions in hand.
The group is independent of the Schoharie County Chamber of Commerce, which has pledged to support supervisors in their budget-driven decision.
But it’s a move no one here can afford, said Linda Quinn, who owns Under the Nose in Middleburgh and is leading the challenge.
At issue is supervisors’ decision not to award the contract for handling tourism marketing and promotion to either the Chamber or Jessica Loden Kirby of Schoharie, both of whom had applied for the job, but to instead give it to County Administrator Steve Wilson’s office to oversee—at least until 2020.
The reason behind supervisors’ move comes down to dollars and cents, said Sharon Supervisor Sandra Manko, who oversees tourism.
Short $65,000 in unpaid Occupancy Taxes, monies collected from hotels and B&Bs and used to match I Love New York funds, supervisors have no choice but to downsize tourism efforts, Ms. Manko said.
“Everyone wants their little piece [of the budget], but the money’s just not there,” she said.
“With everything we’re looking at and what we know, I’m comfortable with the decision we’ve made. We’ll take another look at this for 2020.”
The O-Tax shortfall is money owed by Rodeway Inn and Suites of Cobleskill—the former Best Western—and represents about 45 percent of what’s typically collected, according to County Treasurer Bill Cherry.
But Ms. Quinn and her supporters argue that the county needs to invest in tourism--which she said brings in $60 million in spending and generates more than $7 million in state and local taxes annually—or everyone will feel the impact.
Ms. Quinn has put together an online petition calling for supervisors to fully fund the tourism program and a tourism coordinator and she and others are planning to attend Friday’s 9am supervisors’ meeting to make their case.
“It’s a very well known fact that a thriving tourism industry benefits economic development,” Ms. Quinn said.
“There are numerous opportunities here to be creative and come up with solutions instead of just shoving it in a closet.”
No one’s shoving tourism in a closet, Ms. Manko said; supervisors have agreed to spend $20,000 to participate in the Central New York Travel and Tourism program.
That’s unlikely to do anything, argues Ms. Quinn.
“If we don’t sit at the table…we’re not going to get anything.”
Ms. Quinn said there are places in the budget supervisors can trim to find real money for tourism—or maybe they should consider investing sale tax revenues in the effort, she said, “instead of chopping ourselves off at the knees…”
But the sales tax money has already all been allocated, Ms. Manko said, and with things like streambank, jail, and health insurance costs, no one’s going to like the 2019 budget, expected to be approved Friday.
Chamber President Jamie Casterlin said her organization is pledging to work with both supervisors and local tourism businesses during the transition and afterwards.
“The Chamber understands the budgetary issues that the county is facing and the decision that was made…” Ms. Casterlin said. “We look forward to working with the county and the local tourism business community during this transition.
“If we all work together, we can still do our best to market Schoharie County in 2019.”