County Commissioner Tim Boyd, in a report based partially on documents he received from the county auditor's office, said the Chattanooga Visitors Bureau had $314,000 in travel expenses in one year.
That year was 2013-2014 - the only year apparently that the auditor's office has obtained detailed expense documents from the CVB.
The Visitors Bureau currently gets $7.1 million from the hotel/motel tax and has a total $8.7 million budget, but will not disclose how it spends the money. Income from the hotel/motel tax has been rising each year, and the county (under a 2007 resolution) gives it all to the CVB.
Commissioner Boyd, who is the commission finance chairman, handed out his report at the commission meeting on Wednesday.
Attorney Phillip Whitaker, saying he was representing the CVB, called to ask that Chattanoogan.com hold up on a story on the report until the CVB could have a response. He said portions of the Boyd report "were protected material and some were plain wrong." However, no CVB response was sent.
Commissioner Boyd said the county attorney's office reviewed his report and said there was no problem with releasing it to the public. He said he was not releasing detailed "working papers" of the auditor's office that he was given.
He gave these examples of travel and entertainment expenses for July 2013-June 2014:
02/19/2014 – Santa Monica CA – Redwood Grill = $ 3,000.00
05/28/2013 – Miami FL - Hilton Hotel = $ 992.00
Chicago IL – Hilton hotel = $ 1,545.00
Atlanta GA – Maggianos Italian Rest = $ 400.00, $500, $1,023
Spa at the Chattanoogan = $ 1,222.00
Conf. & Travel Exp, FY2014 = $ 314,645.00
Commissioner Boyd said Ed Dolliver, CVB vice president of convention and group sales, said, "100 percent of our convention and group sales come from the Southeast and 80 percent of these sales comes from within Tennessee"
He said Bob Doak, CEO of the CVB, indicated the vast majority of tourists coming to Chattanooga live within a 150-mile radius of Chattanooga.
However, he said for July 2013-June 2014 travel destinations of CVB staff included at least 41 cities with only 12 within the Southeast.
He said in 2011 the CVB moved its operations into the 18th floor of the SunTrust Building at a cost of almost $400,000.00.
He stated, "None of the contracts issued to make this move followed Hamilton County Government policies nor was any of the money spent outlined and approved by the Commission. Beyond the sheer cost of the move being justified (or not), how does one justify or answer the following questions in light of the mission of the CVB:
- Placing the offices of a visitor’s bureau on the 18th floor of an office building?
- How many citizens of Hamilton County or tourist will visit these wonderful offices?
- How does this show good stewardship of the citizens’ monies?
Commissioner Boyd said he found that $420,885 was spent by the Visitors Bureau on office furnishings and computers.
He said, "If the CVB was funded with private dollars, earned or donated, there would be no reason for this report. However when any agency is entrusted with the responsibility of managing tax dollars there must be the highest level of accountability and transparency. This does not seem to be the case with the CVB when they are repeatedly asked for copies of all of their financials by the media and refuse to share the information. Neither the county auditor’s reports, CVB’s 990 nor the CVB public financial statements indicate how CVB’s staff is managing (or mismanaging) the citizens’ tax dollars."