JEFFERSONVILLE — In 2011, the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau designated the largest amount of bond financing for capital projects in its history, dedicating $1.18 million toward five projects in the two counties.

John Gilkey, tourism bureau director of communications, said despite a recovering economy, local tourism and tourism-based businesses have faired better than expected.

“We’ve bucked the trend,” he said. “Most of our hotels have indicated, in spite of everything, they’ve done pretty good in this economy. Not great, but if you look at the national trend, most of them are fairly happy.”

The bureau uses 25 percent of a 3 percent room tax collected from hotels and motels in Clark and Floyd counties to fund its capital projects.



Bonded projects

Among projects financed from the Capital Development Tourism Fund in 2011 were $300,000 to Jeffersonville to help pay for a new RiverStage; $274,175 to the New Albany Fire Museum; $300,000 for planning, design and fabrication of exhibits in the 2,000-square-foot Clarksville History Museum; $250,000 for the ongoing redesign and update to the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center; and $45,000 to edit and secure retail and broadcast rights to an interactive multimedia program that will be the center of a permanent exhibit in New Albany’s Carnegie Center for Art and History.

The five projects were included in the same financing to help lower the bond issuance costs.

With the amount of funding designated in 2011, it is expected that there will be less to go around this year.

“They are definitely not going to do something as big [this] year,” Gilkey said. “There will undoubtedly be requests for funding and those are considered regularly on a basis of what funds are available.”

The requests have already started to come in. At its first meeting with the new board, a request from the New Albany Bicentennial Commission of $36,000 for a book of short stories and archival photos commemorating New Albany’s history was presented. The request was not approved, but the board did designate $15,000 to go toward the bicentennial celebration.

Gilkey said that the boost in funds being spent on local capital development projects shows that local businesses are more aware of the benefit the tourism bureau can provide.

“I think that kind of shows that there was an epiphany on the part of the communities that these tourism dollars really are brining in revenue to our community and we need to go out and spend these dollars, get this infrastructure in place and use tourism to bring in the new dollars,” he said. “I think the communities are awakening to the fact that there is a really good return on investment in tourism dollars, and consequentially we had the largest request for capital funding that this bureau has ever seen.”

But one project the tourism bureau has dedicated funding to has already sunk.



Jeffersonville scrapping its bond plans

Capital development funds were designated to the help purchase a new RiverStage for the city of Jeffersonville. The city bought the RiverStage for $370,000, and estimated renovations for the newly purchased vessel would total $2.3 million.

But the plan to renovate the new, larger, boat into a floating stage and venue was scrapped when Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore took office, who said the plan was too expensive.

“The RiverStage that was purchased last year was a colossal mistake,” he said.

In addition to the costs to renovate RiverStage II, the city has been paying $200-a-day in dock fees to hold the barge until a buyer is found. The concern for the city is even if the barge that was purchased is scrapped, they might lose money on the deal as two companies have offered they would charge the city $369,000 and $224,000, respectively to scrap the vessel.

“That barge does not have the value that people thought it did,” Moore said. “The thing is so big nobody had a use for it.”

While Jeffersonville searches for a buyer, the money bonded to renovate RiverStage II will not go toward its original purpose, but it will not be taken back by the tourism bureau either.

“The bureau’s not going to ask for the money back,” Gilkey said. “The bureau’s position is we’ve allocated this money for a RiverStage project use it the best way that [they] see fit. I’m sure the city of Jeff can use it for whatever renovations they’re going to make to the existing RiverStage. The approach of the board up to this point has been that we’re not going to ask for the money back.”

At April’s tourism bureau meeting, the board approved Jeffersonville’s plans to use the funds to rehabilitate RiverStage I. Moore said his plan is to use the capital development funds to install a new sound and a new lighting system on RiverStage I. He added that the stage floor will also be replaced and the boat will be painted.

“I think by the time all is said and done it will be pretty close to that $300,000,” Moore said of the renovation costs. “I think the tourism bureau has really stepped up for Jeffersonville in the past few years.”

Gilkey said once the funding has been dedicated, as long as its used for a related purpose, the tourism bureau would not have recourse to rescind the bond.

“The thinking is that the taxing unit is the one who is responsible for the project,” he said. “If the scope of the project changes then the scope of the project changes, but that funding is still there and they are the ones who are in the best position to determine how to expend those funds.”

Tracking how the tourism bureau has been spending its funds has not been as apparent during the past few years.



Tracking expenses

According to the State Board of Accounts, annual reports from the convention and tourism bureau were not filed with the state agency from 2008, 2009 and 2010. Tourism Bureau Attorney Jack Vissing responded to the report through a letter following an exit conference in November.

“We understand that the annual financial reports for 2008, 2009 and 2010 were actually prepared by the State Board of Accounts and show no irregularities,” he wrote.

Gilkey also said that the State Board of Accounts has audited the tourism bureau and showed they complied with state requirements.

“If you read that audit report, it says we accounted for all of the money that came in, we accounted for all the money that was spent and everything was proper, it was just that you couldn’t fill out their forms online,” he said.

He explained that the annual reports had not been filed with the State Board of Accounts because the annual reports are based on taxing units that have tax levies and budgets.

“We don’t have a tax levy like a city or a town does,” he said. “We collect a tax, but it’s like a sales tax at the state level. You can predict what your budget is going to be based on trending, but you can’t say positively that’s what it’s going to be.”

He added the state has changed its online filing system and the audits will be filled out in subsequent years.

“The state has worked with us this year and they have modified those forms to where we can fill them out,” Gilkey said. “The old form just didn’t work.”

At a recent meeting, Tourism Bureau Executive Director Jim Keith said the bureau had prepared its 2011 annual report and it had been submitted to the State Board of Accounts.

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• Check out part two of this story, coming Monday in the News and Tribune.