Joe Higgins is not happy with the Columbus Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau, and he”s making no secret of it.
Reacting to news that the CVB might reduce the percentage of its revenue it gives to the Columbus Lowndes Development Link, which Higgins heads, he summoned media representatives to his office Wednesday afternoon to share with them a letter he planned to release later that afternoon to his “public and private partners” alerting them of the cuts. The letter states the cuts could range from $30,000 to upwards of $100,000 per year, and urges Link supporters to attend the CVB”s board meeting at 4 p.m. Monday. The CVB is expected to finalize its budget at the meeting.
The CVB is funded by a 2-percent restaurant tax, which generated about $1.3 million last year. In recent years the organization has given 15 percent of that revenue to the Link. As that amount has grown, the Link”s share has increased from $160,000 in 2004 to $193,000 this year.
James Tsismanakis, director of the CVB, said the board was planning to give the Link somewhere between $160,000-$190,000 in its upcoming budget.
“I”ve told (Higgins) three times the figure would be between 160 and 190,” Tsismanakis said this morning. “I told him this was a one-year deal. We were cutting my budget to get him to 160. I told him that three times and he still says ”$100,000 in cuts.””
Tsismanakis justified the cuts Wednesday afternoon, pointing out the expense of the just-completed Tennessee Williams Welcome Center renovation (about $290,000 for the CVB”s share), the organization”s new offices (The CVB has committed $700,000 to buy and furnish half of the ground floor of the building under construction behind the welcome center), and one-third of the share of the local contribution to the restoration of old river bridge, about $133,000. Tsismanakis also said his organization wants to be in position next year to take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in the international celebration of the 100th birthday of playwright Tennessee Williams, Columbus” most famous native son.
Later Wednesday afternoon, Higgins changed tactics saying in hopes reaching a resolution, he was going to wait another 24 hours before releasing the letter.
The CVB is the second-largest contributor to the Link, following Lowndes County, which gave the organization $210,000 in its most recent budget period. The city of Columbus provides $100,000.
“He”s gone for the jugular,” Tsismanakis said of Higgins.
The sometimes volatile economic developer said he”s brought in individual CVB board members Glenn Lautzenhiser, George Swales and board president Dewitt Hicks for one-on-one sessions.
“I didn”t know that he was calling my board,” said Tsismanakis.
“It gets to be which is more important — car races and bass tournaments or industrial recruitment,” said Higgins, who said that his stance reflects that of his executive committee. “We feel morally and ethically that 15 percent is what we”re entitled to,” he said, admitting the figure is not a contractual amount.
“If they don”t agree (to fund the Link 15 percent), we”re going to raise the nuclear plunger,” Higgins continued.
Higgins said the restaurant tax can be repealed by petition and vote or by a request from the City Council or the Board of Supervisors.
When pressed further, Higgins seemed to backtrack. “We”re going to strongly say, we”re going to explore other options. … The compromise number is 15 percent,” he said.
Higgins said this was going to be a tough year for the Link, which has seen its budget shrink from $1.36 million when he arrived in June 2003 to $814,000 this year. He said the organization has cut two positions, and the city has reduced its funding by $10,000. Gone is $10,000 in annual support from Domtar and Omnova, and the he expects the Link to lose about $40,000 in memberships. Funding from the Trust, a five-year annual commitment from local businesses, has dropped from $474,000 a year to $294,000.
Both the Link and the CVB have six full-time employees. Higgins makes $220,000 a year in salary plus the potential of $30,000 in bonuses. Tsismanakis makes $90,000 a year.
Wednesday, Higgins presented the members of the media a red folder containing a copy of the letter he planned to release and copies of the local and private bills that created and sustained the 2-percent restaurant tax. In the 2000 version of the law, a percentage of collections went to Mississippi University for Women. The 2004 extension directed all the proceeds of the tax to the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitor”s Bureau with no stipulation as to how the money should be spent.
In 2008 the CVB, with the help of the Link, successfully appealed to the Legislature to extend the law from the customary four years to 10 in order to provide stability for the long-term financial commitments the CVB was about to undertake.
“When you come here to Pilgrimage you might stay a night; when you come here to hang steel, you”re not a tourist, but you”re paying the restaurant tax,” Higgins said. “This organization is the organization that lays the golden egg,” he said of the Link.
“I just think the citizens of Lowndes County are getting a huge bang for what we provide,” countered Tsismanakis. “I think the community can see a huge benefit.”
Birney Imes III is the immediate past publisher of The Dispatch.
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