County to spend record amount promoting tourism
By Jason Peck Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Historically, the Rappahannock County government has given $5,000 to tourism – a small amount – then let the town of Washington and local businesses handle much of the efforts instead.So it raised quite a few questions recently when the current county budget contained $41,000 in local funds for tourism – a 580 percent increase. When matching grants are added, Rappahannock government will spend a record $56,000 on tourism promotion.
"It wasn't so much negative (comments) as it was questions, like, 'Isn't tourism supposed to be returning money to us? Why do we need to promote it?'" County Administrator John McCarthy said of the response.
But McCarthy said the funds will make up for Rappahannock County's historically low contributions to tourism. And if all goes well, it could put the county in the tourism business.
"It's a bit of a gainer for us, and it's not something that's going to reoccur unless we see some dividends," McCarthy cautioned.
In a letter to the board of supervisors, McCarthy claimed that the county had started to "catch a fair amount of heat" over its low contributions to tourism, and noted that the county's meals and lodging tax raised more than $140,000 annually.
The county spent $6,000 last year for tourism, roughly three percent of a penny on the real estate tax. By contrast, other counties spent as much as two cents of their real estate tax revenue. If Rappahannock made a similar contribution, it would mean more than $300,000 annually toward tourism.
Much of the money goes to fund a matching grant from the Virginia Tourism Council. The Washington Hospitality and Visitors Association and the Rappahannock Association of Arts and the Community would also contribute small donations toward the grant.
If all goes as planned, the move would link Rappahannock to the state's tourism Web site, made famous by the catchphrase, "Virginia is for lovers."
"Rappahannock doesn't have a presence there," McCarthy said. "This will give us one."
The funds would also contract with Laura Overstreet, a tourism professional originally from the City of Alexandria, who would work the Web site. McCarthy said Overstreet, who has a home in Rappahannock, would receive a formal title, "once I figure one out."
At a meeting last week, the increases attracted little controversy from supervisors, some of whom said they had overcome their misgivings.
"I think that's something that's going to help us in the future," Supervisor Bryant Lee said. "By cutting that, I don't see where that's going to be beneficial. If you don't have money coming into the community, you don't have money for taxes."
Supervisor Ron Frazier said he first thought tourists would head for hot spots such as the beaches. Rising gas prices might change their minds, he said.
"On the other hand, rather than come to Hilton Head, they might come here," Frazier said.