The Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau wines and dines business clients at local restaurants as it woos them to choose Chattanooga as the place to hold events.
The “wine” part of those restaurant meals could go away if Hamilton County commissioners decide today to approve a resolution by County Commissioner Tim Boyd.
It would require all nonprofit agencies that receive more than 25 percent of their annual operating budget from Hamilton County to adopt county travel and purchasing policies, to provide all financial documents and records of expenses, and to place a county commissioner on their governing boards.
Robert Doak, president and CEO of the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau“In Hamilton County policies, there’s no reimbursement for liquor,” Boyd said. “It wouldn’t affect any of [the CVB’s] travel, except they would come under more scrutiny. Instead of the Hilton, every time, [CVB employees] may be staying at the Holiday Inn Express.”
The resolution is Boyd’s most recent effort to rein in what he calls “out of control” spending by the Convention and Visitors Bureau, which gets around 87 percent of its annual budget from county hotel-motel bed tax – estimated to reach $8.2 million this fiscal year.