In a compromise with the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link, the city”s Convention and Visitor”s Bureau board voted 8-1 Monday to decrease the group”s funding by $19,000.
The bureau decided to give a little more than 13 percent of its 2010-11 budget, or $178,500, to the Link. The group traditionally receives 15 percent, which would have meant $197,000 this year.
The CVB board had initially planned to whittle down the Link”s funding by about 12.3 percent to $160,000, said CVB Director James Tsismanakis.
The board postponed approval of the budget until a future meeting to give members more time for discussion and review. A special meeting could be called this month to approve the budget, although no date had been set Tuesday morning, Tsismanakis said.
The bureau decided to amend their earlier plan after Link CEO Joe Higgins began lobbying publicly against the cuts Wednesday.
“We feel morally and ethically that 15 percent is what we”re entitled to,” Higgins said then.
In his presentation to the CVB board Monday, Higgins pleaded for more funding, claiming cuts would hurt the Link and the community.
“Perhaps we”ve forgotten how far we”ve come,” he said, speaking to the board of the Link”s hand in local economic growth.
“I think many of you have forgotten,” he added.
The only CVB board member to vote against giving the Link the additional $18,000, Whirlie Byrd, said the bureau could not afford more and would have to cut elsewhere.
“We just don”t have the money, period,” Byrd said. “We”re overextended already.”
The bureau has recently been working on several costly projects, including the newly finished Tennessee Williams Welcome Center and a new headquarters under construction.
At the same time, CVB funding to the Link has grown steadily over the years, from $162,000 in 2006 to $193,303.40 in 2009, according to the bureau”s financial records.
While belts are getting tighter at CVB, Higgins said the Link is also suffering from the economic recession.
The Link”s total budget has decreased from $1.36 million in June 2003 to $814,000 this year, Higgins said.
In discussion about the budget change, CVB board member David Sanders said there was “fat” in the budget, especially in advertising, that could be trimmed for the unbudgeted $18,500 going to the Link.
Salaries are a major expense at both organizations, which have six full-time employees each. Higgins makes $220,000 a year in salary and can make up to $30,000 in bonuses while Tsismanakis makes $90,000 a year.
The board decided on a compromise after a joint meeting between CVB board president DeWitt Hicks, treasurer Glenn Lautzenhiser, long-time member John Bean and three Link representatives.
Higgins, who did not attend the meeting, had already had one-on-one sessions with the three CVB members, he said.
Lautzenhiser said board members would continue to have talks with Link representatives about future funding.
Toward the end of discussion about the change, CVB board member Dixie Butler told Higgins she “didn”t appreciate” the way some Link members responded to the cuts.
Some Link representatives, she said, went as far as belittling board members” service to the community.
“I feel like we got knocked pretty hard this last week,” she said.
In other business, the board unanimously approved $20,000 in financial support for the Mayor”s Unity Picnic and the same amount for the Lucas Oil Series at the Magnolia Speedway.
The board also heard a presentation by architect Patrick Alexander, who is designing the art park east of the Tennessee Williams home.
Alexander, whose work on the project is being funded by Dispatch Publisher Birney Imes, told members he plans to make the park a go-to downtown lunch spot.
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