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BACKGROUND Prior to the commencement of the Tri-Valley Tourism Business Improvement District (TVTBID) in 2006, the four Tri-Valley cities of Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin and San Ramon largely supported the Tri-Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau — now branded as Visit Tri-Valley (VTV) —with about 85% of its revenue. VTV sought to create the TVTBID to improve tourism promotion and to be more self-sufficient in light of increasingly tighter city budgets. The TVTBID now provides more than 90% of the CVB's annual revenues; the remainder of its revenues comes from membership dues and program income. The TVTBID, which is based on paid hotel (hereafter called lodging business) room occupancies, generates funding that is used to support VTV's tourism promotion and marketing activities. The TBID model was identified as the best option because the source of funding is directly tied to tourism. For the creation of the TVTBID, VTV engaged a consultant, Civitas (formerly Downtown Resources), to guide the organization through the development of the district. The initial business improvement district was established for five years, and included lodging businesses with 35 rooms or more available for public occupancy in the four Tri-Valley cities of Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton and San Ramon. In late 2006, the Town of Danville established its own tourism business improvement district —with its single lodging business —to correspond with the TVTBID. It was the intention of the bureau and the collective cities that the two districts would be merged at the time of renewal, creating one cohesive Tri-Valley Tourism Business Improvement District (which did occur with the renewal of the tourism assessment district in 2010). Based on an assessment of $1.00 per paid occupied room night, the TVTBID generated approximately $1,000,000 annually, with a decrease in FY08-09 due to the economic downturn and ensuing decrease in corporate and leisure travel. In 2009, in anticipation of the end of the district's term in 2010, VTV surveyed the hotel community and learned the TBID hoteliers had come to rely more heavily on the VTV's sales and marketing efforts due to their own dwindling human and fiscal resources. The board also noted the impact that competing destinations' sales and marketing resources was having on attracting visitors to the Tri-Valley region. Thus, the VTV Board determined that a five-year renewal of the tourism district with an increase in the occupied room night assessment from $1.00 to $2.00 in years one through three, with a possible increase of up to $0.10 per year in years four and five, would allow VTV additional funds to market and promote the Tri-Valley, while still remaining competitively priced versus comparable destinations. Upon approval of a majority of the assessed hotels, the Tri-Valley cities approved the renewal of the TVTBID through mid-2015. DISCUSSON In mid-2014, the VTV board began discussing renewal of the existing TVTBID which will end on June 30, 2015, and engaged the same consultant used to establish and renew the TVTBID. A subcommittee of VTV staff and hoteliers representing each Tri-Valley city was convened to review Visit Tri-Valley trend information, gather information about other California tourism districts, and make recommendations for amendments to the existing TVTBID. From this data collection and pursuant discussions came the parameters of the Page 2 of 6