The Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau soldiers on after a 73 percent staff cut, the result of the feud over its funding by the Greater Boise Auditorium District.
The nonprofit bureau won a contract from GBAD in November for $208,000 through next October. That’s enough to keep four people employed, says Bobbi Patterson, the bureau’s executive director.
The contract requires the bureau to help drum up convention and event business for the district-run Boise Centre meeting and convention center Downtown. The bureau also promotes other tourism in the area, using a $620,504 grant from the Idaho Regional Travel and Convention Grant Program. That money comes from a 2 percent tax on hotel rooms and private camp sites. It can be used only for programs, not staff.
“We did not lose funding for our programs,” Patterson says, “so the four of us are challenged to accomplish the same results from our programs, which includes advertising, trade shows, mailings and bringing clients in … all of the things it takes to really bring business to the town.”
The auditorium district’s mission is to oversee the Boise Centre. Some board members said a court ruling cast doubt on the legality of the district paying for a visitors’ bureau with a broader promotional mission. GBAD collects its money from a 5 percent hotel room tax in the city. For 30 years, the bureau relied on district money to pay salaries. The district cut off funding in 2010. Some bureau employees kept working as volunteers as they drew unemployment. Five were hired by the auditorium district.
The visitors bureau now operates in office space at 12th and Main streets provided by the Owyhee Plaza Hotel’s owners. They donated the space from September 2010 to November 2011. Today, the bureau pays below-market rent for it. “We’ve had great support from the owners,” Patterson says.
Lennon S. Reid: sreid@nextploration.com
