CCMIN071691 - Laserfiche WebLink

325 Mr. Butler commented that all the items mentioned, with the exception of the $12,000 for the Family Crisis Center, are in the proposed budget. He indicated that he was not opposed to continuing the funding for the Convention and Visitors Bureau for the coming fiscal year because the Bureau was established with Council funding and was planned to be carried on in that manner until this time. He proposed, however, that the Bureau look into developing alternate sourcesof funding for the coming years. He pointed out that it would be significant to note that the direct results of the Bureau's efforts resulted in an increase in the City's hotel room tax of $30,000 a year. He stated that he had no problem with continuing the proposed funding for the Community Access TV and the Downtown Association, as has been done in past, but that non-profit groups, such as the Amador Historical Society and CASA, should start to develop their own sources of funding. Ms. Scribner stated that she has a list of 39 cities that have a convention and visitors bureau, and only nine of the 39 receive a significant part of their budgets from the cities. Five of those nine cities have no convention centers, like Pleasanton, and these five cities, including Auburn and Solvang, spend 90% of their efforts to get tourists to town. She continued that she did not see Pleasanton as a tourist destination and that she did not believe that the City should be in the convention and visitors bureau business. She indicated that while she would not like to see the Bureau cut off since it has already projected its budget for the year, she would like to see the process begin and have the proposed $185,000 reduced to $100,000 for this fiscal year, $50,000 for the next fiscal year, and have the Bureau be self-sufficient in three years. She agreed with Mr. Butler that the City should not be responsible for the operating budgets of non-profit organizations and should consider only exceptional cases like one-time projects or specific programs that the organization is unable to fund for some reason. She stated that the City's agreement with the Community Access TV provides for $48,000 this year, but pointed out that the funding should be discussed further when the three-year agreement ends this coming year. She suggested that the proposed funding for the Amador Historical Society be cut from $10,000 to $5,000; CASA from $10,000 to $5,000; and the Centennial Committee from $20,000 to $10,000. She further proposed that all future requests from non-profit organizations be referred to the Human Services Commission, which will evaluate and assess the needs of the community in terms of social services and refer its recommendations to the Council. - 29 - 7-16-91