By the time the Newport Beach City Council considered dissolving the city's Tourism Improvement District Tuesday night, the district's management plan had already expired at the end of January.
The expected City Council action was to adopt a resolution formally expressing the city's intention to abolish the district so that a date and time for a public hearing could be set, but it was too late for council members to make the decision. It was agreed that there was not enough information, so it was tabled instead. .
The item was listed on the council's consent calendar, but was canceled for discussion by Mayor Will O'Neill.
Visiting with Newport Beach CEO and President Gary Sherwin and Siti Atty. Aaron Harp will discuss the relationship between the new organization being formed and Visit Newport Beach and its parent company, Newport Beach & Co., how and where funds from the evaluation will be used, and what oversight, if any, there will be. He answered a question from the stage about whether there would be any supervision. The city would be able to do that under a new arrangement.
The Tourism Improvement District was established in 2009 to help fund tourism marketing to promote the city as a vacation and meeting destination. City officials said additional funds were loaned for improvements to increase hotel occupancy so it can remain competitive in the conference sector of the tourism industry.
The area is managed by Visit Newport Beach, the city's tourism arm, which receives about 18% of the city's temporary occupancy tax revenue.
The annual assessment rate was about 3% of the hotel's total long-term room rent. The city remitted 99.75% of the funds to Visit Newport Beach, but the city did not collect and 0.25% was retained as management fee.
The board elected to dissolve the district and instead create the Conference Evaluation Partnership, which would operate in the same capacity as the Tourism Improvement District in a private capacity.
During Tuesday's debate, O'Neill said the state auditor said the city of Anaheim was not properly managing its tourism contract and millions of dollars in related expenses, and that some of the funds were being used for political purposes. I pointed out that I pointed it out.
“I'm trying to figure out when to abolish TBID right now. I saw a quote in the Orange County Register this morning that said the reason was to eliminate bureaucracy, so that's fine.” Staff member My understanding is that the report said it was costing us $12,000 a year,” O'Neill said. “It doesn't seem very bureaucratic, but it's fine. If that's why they wanted to get rid of it, that's fine.
“But will these new voluntary organizations be independent? Will they be managed by one of the taxpayer organizations? If so, now that the state is looking at Anaheim and cities are Is there an oversight issue with what they expected to be done with taxpayer dollars?”
Businesses moving to MAP include Balboa Bay Resort, Hyatt John Wayne Airport Newport Beach, Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, Newport Beach Marriott Bayview, VEA Newport Beach: Marriott Resort and Spa, Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort, and Includes Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort. Marina, Renaissance Newport Beach Hotel, Lido House.
It is unclear when the topic will return to the City Council for further discussion.
