The Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau board is considering using $591,925 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to cover its next two years of marketing and advertising spending.
The move would allow the CVB to use regular revenue from the 2% tourism sales tax to pay off $374,414 in outstanding debt.
CVB received those ARPA funds from the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration to spend solely on marketing and advertising efforts. It received an additional $495,000 in ARPA from the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors, which has been earmarked to promote tourism at local festivals.
The organization has until the end of 2026 to spend it, Executive Director Nancy Carpenter said.
CVB’s board first discussed the plan at a special-call meeting Aug. 8 and is expected to vote on it when it approves its Fiscal Year 2024 budget in September.
“I hope that we can put that ARPA money that we have (on marketing and advertising) and utilize the budgeted money that we use from years past on debt service,” board member Quinn Brislin said. “Let’s use our money to get debt service and maybe find some new things to do that we haven’t done, maybe some new ideas.”
Carpenter supports the plan, as well, but told The Dispatch she would like the board to hire an attorney who specializes in ARPA procurement and purchasing to consult CVB on expenditures. That would mirror the city of Columbus and Lowndes County, which both hired ARPA consultants to help plan their spending.
“We want to follow the rules,” Carpenter said. “We have not spent any of our ARPA funds, and we are very cognizant of the need to have someone who specializes in purchasing laws, and we will do it the right way.”
Board attorney John Brady told The Dispatch hiring an ARPA specialized attorney is the right move.
CVB has spent close to $300,000 on marketing advertising this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, and plans to budget similar numbers for each of the next two years.
That would redirect funds normally spent on those services from the tourism tax to pay off debt still owed for the CVB’s headquarters and the old Elks Lodge building downtown.
That debt has an interest rate of 2.95% and is scheduled to retire in April 2025, Carpenter said.
“I think a lot of the board members would like to see us debt-free,” Carpenter said. “… It’s a very low interest rate, but if the desire of the board is to go ahead and pay off the debt, we can certainly do that.”
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