ASHEVILLE – The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority discussed the forecasted $34.3 million expected in revenue from occupancy taxes for fiscal year 2025 during its May 29 meeting as the BCTDA’s finance committee suggested adding an additional $4.3 million to the fund that controls marketing and administrative expenses in a proposed budget, with staff and board members stating it would help the region to stay competitive in the tourism market.
The board also voted to modify the funding timeline for the Woodfin Whitewater Wave project, which is expected to be finished by the end of 2024.
For both fiscal year 2024 and 2025, BCTDA reported the county administrative fee to be around $1.8 million — a 260% increase from the $500,000 admin fee in 2023 — and set a projected $34.3 million in occupancy tax revenue for the upcoming year, BCTDA nonprofit treasurer HP Patel said during the meeting.
Buncombe County officials announced last year that they would be updating the administrative fee from 1.5% to 5% for occupancy taxes.
The forecasted revenue for 2025 would set aside roughly $11.4 million for community capital projects and $22.9 million for marketing, advertising, sales, promotion and administrative expenses, known as the BCTDA’s “operating budget.” The BCTDA expects a total of $15.3 million will be available for community capital projects for the upcoming fiscal year, according to a May 29 new release.
In the past few years, the operating budget has decreased after a 2022 bill changed how BCTDA occupancy taxes are distributed, favoring tourism promotion, but providing more funds for community capital projects.
The BCTDA finance committee did propose adding $4.3 million from their fund balance designation to the operating budget, a necessary move to stay competitive in the market, Patel said.
The $4.3 million, sourced from BCTDA’s undesignated contingency funds, are “lodging tax revenues that were received and unspent in the operating fund in prior years,” BCTDA spokesperson Ashley Greenstein told the Citizen Times May 30.
During the meeting, Patel said “marketing efforts must continue to keep our place in the market and keep our economy thriving” even as occupancy rates and sales tax revenues lag in the region.
Under the proposed $27.3 million operating budget, $19.4 million would be put toward marketing, around a $600,000 decrease from $20 million in 2024. At the same time, the proposed budget increases BCTDA salaries and benefits from $4.1 million to $4.4 million and partnership and destination management from $500,000 to $700,000.
Employee salary and benefits updates come as the BCTDA makes adjustments to fall in compliance with the Department of Labor overtime exemption updates and in consideration of MIT’s living wage data for Buncombe County, Vice President of Culture and Business Affairs Jennifer Kass-Green said during the meeting.
Currently, MIT estimates Buncombe County’s living wage to be $24.61 an hour, or roughly $51,198 before taxes, for a single person with no children working full-time. The number is roughly $2 higher than what Just Economics of Western North Carolina reports for the region at $22.10 an hour.
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Separate from the budget discussion, the BCTDA board voted to adjust disbursements and scheduling for the Woodfin Whitewater Wave project, which is part of the greater Woodfin Greenway and Blueway expansion project.
The BCTDA has also provided a total of $8.3 million in funding for a Woodfin project that is expected to bring “1,000s” of daily visitors to the region while providing a unique recreation opportunity for the area’s canoeists, kayakers and playboaters.
The wave received two major investments from the BCTDA, with the nonprofit investing $2.25 million in 2017 and $5.89 million in 2022 through the Tourism Product Development Fund, allowing the project to proceed full steam.
The wave element of the project, not including a Riverside Park expansion, is expected to be finished by the end of 2024, Woodfin Mayor Jim McAlister recently told the Citizen Times.
During the meeting, the BCTDA recommended adding the town of Woodfin as a party to the Woodfin Greenway and Blueway contract, a change that would allow the town to directly receive funding for the wave, rather than having Buncombe County receive and disperse funds for the project, Explore Asheville Director of Grants Tiffany Thacker explained.
President and CEO of Explore Asheville Vic Isley said the urgency for funding changes comes amid recent movement on the project. The June to September timeframe is the “magic time” for construction to take place, as the river’s water is expected to be lower, Isley said.
“They expect the wave to be completed by September,” Thacker said during the meeting.
The wave would be one of the few in the region to be readily available for Western North Carolina’s whitewater paddling community, which has an active base in Asheville-area rivers and streams.
The contract changes were passed unanimously by the BCTDA board.
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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.