A new round of debate over room tax dollars in Haywood County was launched last week, this time by Wade Reece, a new appointment to the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority and a Maggie Valley politico.

About $600,000 is collected annually by the TDA through a 3-percent tax on lodging. Most of the money is spent promoting the county as a tourist destination, from courting travel writers to advertising the county’s attributes in magazines, as well as employing staff to answer telephone and email inquires from tourists.

A portion of the money — about 25 percent — is doled out in the form of grants for tourism projects in specific areas of the county, called corridors. The corridor money funds everything from a Web site and a toll free number for the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce to arts and crafts fairs in Waynesville.

But there’s only so much money to go around, resulting in an annual tug of war.

When the TDA started awarding these grants in the mid-1990s, a lead entity was appointed in each of the three corridors to corral all the grant applications. In Maggie Valley, for example, that entity was the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce.

If the Maggie Valley Lodging Association or the Maggie Valley Civic Association wanted TDA money, the application was funneled through the Maggie Chamber.

But inevitably, the chamber requested nearly all the money for its own projects, leaving none for other groups.

“Those groups would say, ‘You’re not even considering me. You’re giving all the money to this person over here and they won’t share the money,’” said Chip Killian, the county attorney who advises the TDA.

Put out, those groups would appeal directly to the TDA, said Ken Stahl, owner of several hotels and board member on the TDA.

“They would fall back and want to make the request directly to us. We can’t refuse to hear that request,” Stahl said.

Ultimately, the TDA board members had to decide which projects to fund. Using the chamber of commerce as a clearinghouse or middle man might have made the chamber feel like it had a say, but only in theory.

So last year, the TDA did away with the concept of using the chambers as a clearinghouse. Instead, anyone who wanted room tax dollars would apply directly to the TDA.

Trial and error

Reece, who just joined the TDA board after being appointed by the Haywood County commissioners, likes the idea of using a corridor administrator and wants to go back to that method.

“The corridor needs to have an opportunity to weigh in on projects,” Reece said.

TDA Director Scotty Ellis said that TDA is legally charged with overseeing room tax dollars and cannot transfer that responsibility to another entity. Reece requested a meeting with Killian to get legal advice on what they could and couldn’t do.

“What weight to the corridors have?” Reece asked Killian at the special meeting held last Friday (April 15).

Killian answered, “They have only as much weight as you all decide to give them. There’s nothing in the law that says anything about corridors,” Killian said.

The TDA is a public body, subject to open meetings laws and open records laws. Not so for the chambers of commerce, which are private organizations and have no obligation to disclose financial records or allow the public to attend meetings where decisions are made.

The TDA is in a better position than chambers to oversee public dollars, Killian said.

“Some people would say ‘You’re the one who is supposed to be representing me because you’re the one that’s appointed by the county commissioners,’” Killian told Reece. “You need to structure it in some way that you have the final word.”

Reece said the lead entity in each corridor should be given some say over what gets funded and what doesn’t in their part of the county.

“What if they don’t want that event in their corridor?” Reece said. Reece said the town government in a corridor should possibly have some say also.

There are already accommodations for input, however. Anyone come before the TDA board and lobby for — or against — a project. The TDA accepts written comments and is holding a public hearing on Thursday, April 21, at 4 p.m. at the Lambuth Inn at Lake Junaluska to let groups weigh in.

King of the hill

The TDA board will discuss Reece’s proposal to revert to the method of corridor administrators overseeing grant applications at its April 28 meeting at 3:30 p.m. at the First Citizens Bank in Waynesville.

If the board goes along with Reece’s proposal, the next big fight will be over who gets to be the lead entity in each corridor.

In Canton, Mayor Pat Smathers wants the town government to be the coordidor administrator. But Canton Papertown Association and a new chamber of commerce group FOCUS might like to be the lead entity, too.

“What is the appropriate agency for the corridor administrator?” Alice Aumen, TDA board member, posed to Reece. The same could be asked of Waynesville: is it the Downtown Waynesville Association or the Haywood Chamber, which has historically held the role of corridor administrator?

“There are some people who love the chambers and some people who don’t love the chambers,” Ellis said.

Killian agreed.

“That’s the problem in selecting the proper agency,” Killian said. “Someone could say ‘Why is that person the corridor administrator, that person doesn’t represent me. I’m not a member of that organization, I’m a member of this organization?’”