Local business leaders and city officials spoke at a community meeting Tuesday, Sept. 4, urging voters to reject a ballot initiative that would abolish the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission and repeal the 3 percent tourism tax that supports it.

The issue will be on the Nov. 5 general election ballot after signatures on a petition to that effect from 148 registered voters in the city were certified by the Carroll County Clerk’s Office. The petition was submitted by local resident Pat Matsukis.

Among those speaking at Tuesday’s meeting at the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks were CAPC executive director Mike Maloney, Eureka Springs City Council member Autumn Slane and Mayor Butch Berry, all of whom described the potential negative impact to the city’s tourism industry and overall economy should the CAPC be abolished.

Also speaking at the event were local business owners Jill Slane, Brian Weinmann and Wendy Hartmann. Jack Moyer, general manager of the Crescent and Basin Park hotels and Randy Wolfinbarger, general manager of the Inn of the Ozarks and a longtime member of the state Parks, Recreation and Travel Commission.

All of the speakers predicted that the loss of the city’s advertising arm would mean fewer tourists visiting Eureka Springs. Autumn Slane pointed out that local businesses are already facing a difficult economic environment and said the loss of tourism revenue “could be a tipping point that leads to closure and job losses.”

Hartmann said tourists who pay the tourism tax also pay city sales tax.

In 2023, the city collected sales tax amounting to around $900,000 on overnight lodging,” Hartmann said. “Even a 20 percent decrease in tourism would remove almost $200,000 from our lodging category alone in our general fund. At that rate, the city begins to consider layoffs and spending reductions. … Small businesses would be considering closing, not just reducing spending.”

Weinmann said not only business owners but also their families and employees depend on tourism for their livelihood. He noted that he has been a critic of the CAPC in the past and briefly served on the commission.

“So I totally get it,” Weinmann said. “But I am not willing to risk my fellow community members’ livelihoods on this at all.” Jill Slane noted that several local nonprofits depend on contributions from the business community and said those contributions likely would not continue if tourism revenue declines sharply. That, in turn, would threaten the existence of the nonprofits, she said.

“I have no doubt that many of our favorite community organizations would be struggling or would possibly perish if there was a hiccup in our tourist income,” she said.

Moyer noted that the CAPC has a small advertising budget compared to similar commissions around the state.

“A million dollars is one-sixth of our nearest competitor,” Moyer said. “One third of the emerging Bentonville market. You have one of the lowest budgets of an advertising and promotion commission in the state of Arkansas. And to be honest, I think we still take them out. I still think we out-compete them because we have the story to tell. They have to invent their story. We have it.”

Moyer noted that abolishing the CAPC would mean terminating the commission’s employees.

“Somebody has to answer the phone,” he said. “Somebody has to respond to emails. Somebody has to mail out the information.”

Moyer said the CAPC’s function is to tell the story of Eureka Springs and bring visitors to town.

“The CAPC tells everybody to come,” he said. “Captures the images and puts it out there in the universe and they’re like: ‘Man, that town is cool.’ And somebody has to do it. And it costs money.”

Maloney pointed out the CAPC annually spends about $250,000 on marketing support for events in the city.

“That means it’s money that goes directly back to the citizens of Eureka Springs, the businesses in Eureka, for the tourists to come here,” he said.

Wolfinbarger said he has visited communities throughout the state during his time on the state tourism commission.

“They would die to have what Eureka Springs has,” Wolfinbarger said. “They would literally love to have what we have. If we don’t have the marketing dollars to continue to promote it, we’ll just become another little town of 2,000 people, as it was in the ’60s.”

Wolfinbarger said it’s important to speak with the local residents who signed the petition.

“I think everyone needs to take that list and find the people that you know and find out why they signed it so that we can educate them,” he said. “Because they’re going to be potential people to speak for us to the rest of the community that’s misinformed. … Because everybody that signed that probably was misinformed in some shape or fashion. So we need those voices to come out and say: ‘Folks, I apologize for signing that petition, but this is what I know today.’ We can make that turn. And I understand there might even be some legal things that we can do with that.”

Berry pointed out that during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city’s sales tax collections dropped by 45 percent. City officials were forced to consider layoffs and reduced services before the economy stabilized, he said.

“We were saying: ‘Who are we going to let go?” Berry said. “… That’s where it got to.”

Ethan Avanzino, co-owner of the Wanderoo Lodge and the Gravel Bar and one of the organizers of the meeting, spoke at the conclusion of the event. He urged business owners to make sure their employees are registered to vote. He also asked individuals who feel as if they were misled when they were asked to sign the petition to contact him. Avanzino said he has been in contact with the state Attorney General’s Office regarding the issue.