Tourism Commission Board March 21, 2022, at 3 pm City Hall Board and Commissions Room 1101 301 W. Second St. Austin, Texas 78701 Some members of the Tourism Commission may be participating by videoconference. The meeting may be viewed online at: http://www.austintexas.gov/page/watch-atxn-live Public comment will be allowed in-person or remotely by telephone. Speakers may only register to speak on an item once either in-person or remotely and will be allowed up to three minutes to provide their comments. Registration no later than noon the day before the meeting is required for contact Felicia Ojeda, 512.404.4022 or felicia.ojeda@austintexas.gov remote participation. To register CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS: Alta Alexander Ed Bailey Bill Bunch John Riedie District 9 Vacant Mayoral Vacant Greg Chanon Rachel Magee Ken Smith Lois Rodriguez Mike Cannatti AGENDA CALL TO ORDER PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL The first 10 speakers signed up prior to the meeting being called to order will each be allowed a three-minute allotment to address their concerns regarding items not posted on the agenda. 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. February 14, 2022 2. OLD BUSINESS The Commission may discuss and take action on the following agenda items: a. Election of a Presiding Officer b. Discussion and possible action to set remaining meeting schedule for 2022 3. NEW BUSINESS The Commission may discuss and take action on the following agenda items: a. Report from the Parks and Environment Working Group on any updates or make new appointments b. Report from the TPID working group on any updates or make new appointments. c. Report on HOT collection by month to indicate how the industry is doing d. Report on current HOT and its disbursement e. Report from Heritage Preservation Division on grant awards and disbursement of HOT funds for Historic Preservation f. Discuss Bylaws Article 2 Section B FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS The Commission may discuss and take possible action to request information and identify future agenda items, topics, or presentation: a. Presentation from the Austin Convention Center on the redevelopment and expansion project and an update of the finance reports of the project b. Presentation from Professor Heywood Sanders regarding convention center expansions c. Presentation on now the hospitality workers and those that work in live events, including art organizations are impacted by the current economic state. ADJOURNMENT The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will …
Hotel Occupancy Tax Collections: Tourism Commission Request March 2022 Review of Texas Tax Code Chapter 351 and allowable uses of Hotel Occupancy Taxes Of the 17% HOT collected on room rentals, the City receives 11%. The remaining 6% goes to the State of Texas. The Chart on the next page illustrates the flow of funds from the Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund to the various recipient funds. The State of Texas authorizes hotel occupancy tax (HOT) assessments under Chapter 351 of the Texas Tax Code and under Chapter 334 of the Texas Local Government Code. Chapter 351 requires HOT assessed under this chapter must first meet the criteria of promoting tourism and convention and hotel industry, and fall into one of the authorized categories, not all of which are applicable to Austin. Those categories allowable in Austin include: • • • the acquisition of sites for and the construction, improvement, enlarging, equipping, repairing, operation, and maintenance of convention center facilities or visitor information centers, or both; the furnishing of facilities, personnel, and materials for the registration of convention delegates or registrants; • advertising and conducting solicitations and promotional programs to attract tourists and convention delegates or registrants to the municipality or its vicinity; the encouragement, promotion, improvement, and application of the arts, including instrumental and vocal music, dance, drama, folk art, creative writing, architecture, design and allied fields, painting, sculpture, photography, graphic and craft arts, motion pictures, radio, television, tape and sound recording, and other arts related to the presentation, performance, execution, and exhibition of these major art forms; • historical restoration and preservation projects or activities or advertising and conducting solicitations and promotional programs to encourage tourists and convention delegates to visit preserved historic sites or museums: o at or in the immediate vicinity of convention center facilities or visitor information centers; or located elsewhere in the municipality or its vicinity that would be frequented by tourists and convention delegates; o • signage directing the public to sights and attractions that are visited frequently by hotel guests in the municipality; Chapter 351 prohibits HOT use for general government activities. Chapter 334 requires HOT assessed under this chapter be spent only on venues that are approved by voters. Authorized venues applicable to Austin include convention center, arena, coliseum, stadium, and potentially a tourism development along an inland waterway. In August 2019, the Austin City Council authorized an increase in the municipal …
Tourism Commission February 14, 2022 - 3 pm Hybrid via Video Conferencing and City Hall Board and Commissions Room 1101 301 W. Second St. Austin, Texas 78701 MINUTES In Attendance: Alta Alexander Greg Chanon Ed Bailey Rachel Magee Bill Bunch Ken Smith John Riedie Lois Rodriguez Mike Cannatti Staff and Other In Attendance: Felicia Ojeda, Austin Convention Center Department, Staff liaison Laura Templeton, Commissioner of the Downtown Commission Anne-Charlotte Patterson, Chair of the Music Commission AGENDA 1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER a. Meeting called to order at 3:03 pm by Vice Chair, Rachel Magee 2. PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS: a. No Public Communications 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Approval of the March 8, 2021, minutes. i. Commissioner Rodriguez moved to approve the March 8, 2021, minutes, seconded by Commissioner Smith ii. All commissioners approved the March 8, 2021 minutes. (Commissioners Alexander, Chanon, Bailey, Magee, Bunch, Smith, Riedie, Rodriguez, and Cannatti) b. Approval of the May 10, 2021, minutes with the correction of Agenda Item 4c. section 3 i. Chair Whitington moved for Recommends that Council to consider and direct staff to consider that these identified uses as possibly possible projects and priorities when considering the annual allocations of Hotel Occupancy Taxes. Second from Commissioner Bailey. All commissioners voted in favor of the motion. (Commissioners Whitington, Magee, Bailey, Smith, Cannatti, Bunch and Riedie). ii. Commissioner Cannatti motioned to approve the May 10, 2021, minutes, with the approved corrections and seconded by Commissioner Riedie. iii. All commissioners approved the corrected May 10, 2021, minutes. (Commissioners Alexander, Chanon, Bailey, Magee, Bunch, Smith, Riedie, Rodriguez, and Cannatti) 4. NEW BUSINESS The Commission discussed the following agenda item: a. Introduced the new Board member, Commissioner Greg Chanon, District 2 b. Deliberated and decided to postpone setting the meeting schedule for 2022 i. Commissioner Rodriguez motioned to postpone Agenda item 2b. setting the meeting schedule for 2022 until the next meeting, seconded by Commissioner Smith. • Approved and adopted by Commissioners Alexander, Chanon, Bailey, Magee, Bunch, Smith, Riedie, Rodriguez, and Cannatti. ii. Commissioners did discuss setting the March 2022 meeting date. • Commissioner Smith moved to meet March 14, 2022, seconded by Commissioner Rodriguez • Commissioners voted against meeting March 14, 2022 (Commissioners Alexander, Chanon, Bailey, Magee, Bunch, Smith, Riedie, Rodriguez, and Cannatti) • Commissioner Bunch moved to meet March 21, 2022, from 3pm- 5pm, seconded by Commissioner Riedie • Approved and adopted by Commissioners Alexander, Chanon, Bailey, …
Tourism Commission March 21, 2022 - 3 pm Hybrid via Video Conferencing and City Hall Board and Commissions Room 1101 301 W. Second St. Austin, Texas 78701 MINUTES In Attendance: Greg Chanon Ed Bailey Rachel Magee Bill Bunch Ken Smith John Riedie Mike Cannatti Absence: Alta Alexander Lois Rodriguez Staff and Other In Attendance: Felicia Ojeda, Austin Convention Center Department, Staff liaison 1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER a. Meeting called to order at 3:04 pm by Vice Chair, Rachel Magee 2. PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS: a. No Public Communications 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Approval of the February 14, 2021, minutes. i. Commissioner Smith moved to approve the minutes. Commissioner Chanon seconded the motion. February minutes received unanimous approval votes by commissioners. 4. OLD BUSINESS The Commission discussed the following agenda item: a. Election of the Chair position i. Vice Chair Rachel Magee was nominated by all Commissioners. ii. Commissioner Smith moved to vote for Vice Chair Magee to be Chair. Commissioner Riedie seconded the motion. Vice Chair Magee received an unanimous approval votes to Chair. iii. Chair Magee moved to have an election for the vice chair position. b. Discussed remaining meeting schedule for 2022. i. Commissioner Chanon moved to set the remaining meetings to meet on the third Wednesday of each month from 3pm- 5pm. Commissioner Cannatti seconded the motion. New meeting timeframe received unanimous approval votes by commissioners. 5. NEW BUSINESS The Commission discussed the following agenda item: a. Report from the Parks and Environment Working Group on any updates or make new i. Commissioner Cannatti updated the board on the new appointed members of the appointments working group. a. Joy Casnovsky, Austin Parks Foundation b. Report from the TPID working group on any updates or make new appointments. i. Commissioner Riedie had no new announcements c. Report on the HOT collection by month to indicate how the industry is doing i. Written report was shared and distributed to board ii. Commissioner Bailey requested the following: a. a report or a narrative of what the impact of the current funds and what is looks like historically b. Where we disperse the money c. What the cutbacks have been because of the steep decline of the HOT collection 1. What the ramifications of its uses in all aspects (all the ones that were listed on the reported shared during the meeting) 2. Particularly the ones with Historic Preservation a. A …
