[DEC. 17, 2005]
What do people involved with tourism in central
Illinois do during winter?
Plan.
That's what members of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism
Bureau of Logan County board and directors have been doing anyway.
In a report to the Logan County Board's finance committee, former
acting director of the tourism bureau Ron Schilling said that the
tourism board has gotten its budget under control in recent months
by making hard cuts and keeping spending to a minimum. This meant
missing out on a couple of opportunities for this year, but it has
just about taken care of the indebtedness. Schilling said he
anticipates that this will allow them to get back up to full swing
in the coming year. He is looking forward to the year 2006 getting
tourism closer to what it should be here.
When Schilling took over the tourism bureau in July, it was
$14,777 in the red. That figure has been reduced to $2,602 owed at
the end of November.
Although the finance committee had just set a new precedent, due
to tight times, that no department could go into the red, they
agreed to work with the bureau late last summer when they were asked
by Schilling to help. The bureau had gotten into a bind under
previous administration due to some misunderstanding of expected
income. Schilling had made a plan to get through the difficult
period, and the bureau is now right on target for where they set
their goal.
Schilling was back to thank the board for their assistance and
say that the remaining $2,602 would be taken care of over the next
year, along with a $10,000 promissory note that tourism has been
carrying.
Local tourism's major support comes through the county. The
bureau gets 80 percent of the Logan County share of hotel-motel
taxes. Current projections indicate there could be as much as
$100,000 for the tourism bureau this year. The agency is playing it
safe though. They've analyzed past years' figures and fluctuations,
and the rate could drop off yet.
The 2006 tourism budget is estimated at $90,000 revenue, with
$75,000 slated for expenditures and $15,000 for debt repayment.
Schilling said, "I'm going to be with the tourism bureau as a
volunteer until I'm satisfied that the county interests are taken
care of."
He added, "I can tell you that the tourism bureau has a terrific
new director [Geoff Ladd]. He knows what's going on. You're going to
see some exciting things happening in the next year. Once the bureau
is back up to full budget, there are a lot of other things that you
will see going on."
Later in the day, county board member and tourism liaison Paul
Gleason told the whole board that tourism is finally seeing the
rainbow at the end of days of dismal funding.
Motel-hotel taxes have increased with some of the Sysco workers
staying in town.
There are indications that more boosts may be coming from that
industry also. Comfort Inn just sold to Best Western. Holiday Inn
Express is planning an upgrade and may possibly add on more rooms.
The Atlanta motel just sold to Americas Best Value Inn, and there has
been interest from other hotel businesses wanting to locate in Logan
County.
The tourism board has been doing some creative winter scheming to
draw people to Logan County festivals next year. Gleason reported
that ideas were bounced around for Atlanta to capitalize on a
combination of their large new icons, the water tower smiley face
and the hot-dog-eating Paul Bunyan. Together they could have
something like a Happy Wiener Fest, which could have
King Frank(furter) and wiener dog contests.
Gleason also provided a brief glimpse of developments in process
with the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County. He said the
board is expanding its membership in order to broaden its base. An
Atlanta citizen will be recommended in January, and the board is
continuing to seek other new members also.
New director Geoff Ladd has been working on a project that will
tie into the Lincoln Railsplitting Festival. It is still in
preliminary stages, but an announcement will be made when details
are worked out.
Another idea that is being kicked around is to develop an annual
ag tour incorporating historic sites in Logan County. The target
audience would be Chicago folk -- to show them where the chickens
and cows that they eat come from, Gleason chuckled.
