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By Buzz Trexler

Star Correspondent

Joy McCray was all business this week – tourism business, that is – calling “irresponsible” a committee’s recommendation that the Carter County Commission explore contracting with outside parties to promote tourism rather than continue its contractual relationship with the Elizabethton/Carter County Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber’s executive director, who spoke on Tuesday for about seven minutes before taking questions, reminded those in attendance that Carter County remained under a state of emergency — a community in which high schools have been displaced, with some roads and bridges that are still impassable, and residents who “are still actively picking up the pieces of their lives from the devastation of a hurricane.”

“We have small businesses who aren’t sure if they’re going to be here in 2025,” she said as Director of Tourism Luke Freeman and Media Coordinator Seth Hice listened along with a small group of journalists in the visitors’ center. Located at 615 E. East Elk Ave., the center offers information, books, posters, and other merchandise to tourists.

On Monday, the Carter County Budget Committee voted 6-1, with one abstention, not to renew the tourism contract with the chamber — a contract McCray said has been in place since 2016. McCray sees the move as shortsighted in that the committee has provided “no active plan for tourism” between the time the County Commission decides and the date the contract expires in March.

A draft of the Budget Committee minutes provided by Deputy Finance Director Chad Perry reflects the vote as 7-1, but notes the lone opposition vote was cast by Commissioner Lesley Hughes, who represents District 7 (Gap Creek), while Commission Chair Ginger Holdren (District 5, Happy Valley), who serves on the chamber’s board of directors, abstained after asking County Attorney Joshua A. Hardin if there would be a conflict of interest if a member sat on the board. Hardin stated there would not be a direct conflict of interest, but the commissioner must make that determination.

In addition to Hughes and Holdren, other Budget Committee members include Dr. Bob Acuff (District 1, Hunter, Midway, and Unaka), who serves as chair; Commissioner Julie Guinn (District 2, Hampton, Roan Mountain, and Tiger Valley), who the county’s website lists as vice chair; Commissioner Brad Johnson (District 3, Central, Keenburg, Range, and Watauga); Commissioner Danny Deal (District 4, Courthouse, Eastside, and Siam); and Commissioner Jerry Stout (District 8, Elizabethton High School and Harold McCormick). The draft minutes record Commissioner Todd Smith (District 6, Hampton, Little Milligan, Elk Mills, and Valley Forge) as a member; however, the county’s website does not include him as a committee member.

The vote follows the Financial Management Committee’s vote on Dec. 5 to not renew the contract, and the minutes show Acuff announced that committee’s decision to the Budget Committee. According to the county website, Johnson chairs the Financial Management Committee, Deal is vice chair, while Acuff and Stout are also members. Other members include Mayor Patty Woodby, Director of Schools Brandon Carpenter, and Highway Superintendent Shannon Burchett.

Efforts by email to obtain minutes from the Financial Management Committee meeting were unsuccessful. The county’s website has pages dedicated to providing agendas and minutes from 17 committees and one board. The Budget Committee page was last updated with the Nov. 12 meeting, but prior to that includes no updates past July 11, 2022. The page for the Financial Management Committee has no information past June 8, 2022.

However, that is not unusual for the county’s website: Nine of 18 pages have no agendas nor minutes; seven were last updated in 2022, sometimes with only agendas, other times only minutes.

“The action of the Financial Management Committee to shift focus away from this recovery of the hurricane and to actively attempt to dissolve our long-standing contract that supports our community and grow through tourism is irresponsible,” McCray said.

McCray pointed to conversations with people who came to Carter County to assist in the Tropical Storm Helene recovery effort and who commented “and how beautiful Carter County is and that they can’t wait to come back with their families for vacation.”

“With the devastation affecting high tourism traffic in our region — and with our neighbors in Asheville, Boone and Banner Elk — we are on track to see a surge of tourism this spring and summer, but only if targeted tourism marketing is active,” she said. Carter County saw $56.8 million in direct visitor spending in 2023, McCray said, adding that the hotel/motel tax revenue increased 161 percent from 2019 to 2023.

“We feel the push for dissolving this contract that has been a positive impact on our community is the Financial Management Committee’s attempt to control funding without a clear plan, or understanding, of how tourism works,” McCray said. “We encourage residents of Carter County to contact their local commissioners and express their concern as well.”

According to the Budget Committee minutes, Johnson said the funds should be moved to a reserve account “so that the total will be known if an RFQ (request for quote) goes out for bid. When Hughes asked why there was a need to move the funds, the commissioner responded that the contract would automatically renew if action was not taken during the current month. Acuff said withdrawing the contract would give the county time to review other options and that the chamber would still have the chance to make a case to receive those funds.

 

Where does the money come from?

The funds in question come from the county’s hotel/motel tax, which was enacted through a private act, and are currently remitted to the chamber for spending by Carter County Tourism, a department within the chamber.

According to the University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Service, a private act passed in 1984 authorizes Carter County to levy a “hotel/motel privilege tax,” which is more of an occupancy tax that includes “any hotel, inn, tourist courts, tourist camp, tourist cabin, motel or any place in which rooms, lodging or accommodations are furnished to transients” for a period of less than 30 continuous days.

The act caps the tax at 5 percent and allows the county to hold the lesser of 2 percent or $12,000 of the revenue in the general fund. The remaining revenue must be “deposited in a special tourism fund and expended only for tourism development or promotion” through a contractual arrangement “with a suitable not-for-profit or civic organization for the promotion and development of tourism in Carter County.”

Carter County Tourism is a department within the chamber and for the July 2023-June 2024 fiscal year had a budget of $348,443.45, of which $371,073.88 was funded by revenue from the hotel/motel tax, according to the chamber’s media coordinator, Seth Hice. The July 2024-2025 budget is $356,014.60, Hice said, and through November the chamber has received $180,321.60.

“We operate separately with separate funding, banking, and spending,” Hice said in an email. “We only share operational costs to keep costs low for Tourism so that we can continue to sponsor local community events, which is a tourism draw.”

 

Where does the money go?

“Carter County Tourism spends $10,000 to $20,000 a month on promoting Carter County,” McCray said. “We will see a decline in tourism that will directly affect sales tax revenue in our community without active promotion, including sales tax and other economic impacts in Carter County.”

McCray says the money is used to market the county via magazine ads in publications such as Our State, Woman’s Day, Travel, Taste & Tour, and Blue Ridge Country, as well as targeted magazines for hiking, biking and fishing. “If you’re a Braves fan, you may have seen our ad in the Braves yearbook too,” McCray said in prepared remarks at the press conference. “Our digital ads are on YouTube, social media platforms, and we do video commercials in targeted markets throughout the year, usually promoting an upcoming season. If you travel on Allegiant, you have likely seen our ad featuring beautiful outdoor recreation in Carter County.”

She said tourism expenditures the past four years also include $150,000 to $200,000 in community sponsorship of local events, such as Covered Bridge Days, Independence Day fireworks, River Riders baseball, Rhododendron and Fall-o-dendron Festivals, Erik Anderson Park Concert Series, Downtown Elizabethton Main Street events, “Liberty” at Sycamore Shoals. 

“If the Carter County Tourism contract is dissolved, all of these local organizations will have to replace this portion of funding in their budgets,” McCray said.

The chamber’s executive director said, “We encourage residents of Carter County to contact their local commissioners and express their concern as well.”

Questions were emailed to commissioners Johnson, Acuff, and Guinn but no response was received by early Friday afternoon. 

The Carter County Commission is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16, at the Carter County Courthouse, 801 E. Elk Ave.