Commission Holds Off on $1 Million University Request

— Advertising and Promotion commissioners awarded more than $145,000 to a range of festivals, sporting events and community groups Monday.

Commissioners want advice from a joint city-university committee, however, before again considering whether to give $1 million to help build an on-campus concert hall.

Other awards will help 22 groups market events expected to draw tourists to town.

Only four groups and events received the full amount requested. Three are associated with Fayetteville High School: a regional volleyball tournament; a weekend of state baseball, softball and soccer championships; and the 7A state basketball tournament, which will return to Fayetteville for the first time since 1995.

The Fayetteville Underground artists collective, now on the southwest corner of the downtown square, received the $40,000 requested. Commissioners said the money will help pay rent at the Underground’s new location.

Three groups requesting money didn’t receive any: The Mount Sequoyah Retreat and Conference Center for a Christmas event Dec. 8; All Sports Productions for the June 23 Ozark Valley Triathlon; and Fayetteville Youth Baseball for canopies above bleachers at one of the ball fields at Walker Park.

Commissioner Bob Davis said the Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Department should pay for the canopies. The parks department receives half of a 2 percent tax on local hotel stays and restaurant purchases. The other half goes to the Advertising and Promotion Commission.

The University of Arkansas’ $1 million request is part of plans to convert the Old Field House on campus into a $17 million facility for the UA music and drama departments. According to Chancellor David Gearhart, university officials must raise nearly $5 million for the facility on top of university reserves, student facilities fees and a $6 million gift from Jim and Joyce Faulkner of Little Rock.

Advertising and Promotion commissioner Justin Tennant said Monday a newly formed Town and Gown Advisory Committee should first have a chance to consider the request.

The committee is scheduled to meet for the second time next week.

“I feel like this is by definition what the Town and Gown Committee should look at,” Tennant said. “I don’t think 30 days is going to destroy this project.”

Davis said commissioners should consider how much hotel, motel and restaurant tax revenue the university — and football games in particular — bring to Fayetteville.

Maudie Schmitt, commission chairwoman, correctly noted that the university’s food services provider, Chartwells, has paid more in hotel, motel and restaurant taxes this year than any Fayetteville business.

Tennant didn’t discount the university’s major role as an economic engine. But, he said, commissioners aren’t being asked to the give money for football facilities or as a way to reward the university for bringing in tourists.

“I’m being asked to fund a fine arts building,” Tennant said. He said the question commissioners should ask is: “Does the fine arts building bring enough people in that are going to stay in a hotel and are going to spend the money in restaurants to fund this?”

Also on Monday, commissioners approved 2013 budgets for the Advertising and Promotion Commission ($2.5 million), Fayetteville Visitors Bureau ($457,000) and Clinton House Museum ($89,000). The budgets reflect a roughly $210,000, or 7.1 percent, increase compared to this year.

Marilyn Heifner, commission executive director, said the money will pay for increased salaries and benefits, an updated website, temporary personnel at the Clinton House Museum and new signs throughout town.

Monday’s special funding requests are to be paid for using unallocated money in the 2013 budget. The university’s $1 million request would be paid for with commission reserves, which Heifner recently estimated at nearly $2 million.

By the Numbers

Event Awards

Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commissioners decided to give 22 event organizers and nonprofit groups $145,328 Monday.

Fayetteville Underground — $40,000

TheatreSquared — $20,000

Uptown Fayetteville Freedom Fireworks — $15,000

7A Boys and Girls State Basketball Tournament — $10,000

Fayetteville High School Weekend of Champions — $9,000

Fayetteville Foam Fest — $5,100

Joe Martin Stage Race — $5,000

Community Creative Center — $5,000

Hooten Kickoff Classic — $5,000

NCAA Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships — $5,000

Blues in the Natural State — $4,000

Last Night Fayetteville — $3,000 (Paid for out of the commission’s 2012 budget)

Dig In! Food and Farming Festival — $3,000

Fayetteville High School Tri-State Volleyball Challenge — $3,000

SEC Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships — $2,400

NWA Earth Days — $2,000

Arts Live Theatre — $2,000

NCAA Men’s Golf Regional Championship — $2,000

Iron Pig Festival — $2,000

NWA Men’s Expo — $500

WordCamp Fayetteville — $500

Fayetteville High School DECA Fashion Show — $1,828 (In-kind donation)

Total — $145,328

Source: Staff Report

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