Ty Reed, the new finance director for the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission, has hit the ground running and has a good grip on preparing a budget for 2025, according to director Mike Maloney.

At a monthly workshop held Oct. 9, the CAPC went over a prospective budget for next year that will eventually be voted on at a regular meeting.

“…We’re working tonight on this important document,” Maloney told commissioners. “It’s the entire CAPC, it’s something the entire CAPC staff has had a part in putting together. It’s for the businesses, it’s for the collectors, it’s for this commission. It’s for the residents of this community, whether you’re working or retired, enjoying a good life.

“Everything that we have done this evening putting into this document is for the benefit to you as a community, and it should have a very positive effect. We’ve looked at almost every situation…” After watching an approximately five-minute video in which Maloney, Reed and CAPC staff members Janalee Olhausen-Kaylor, Katelyn Jerrell and Danyelle Harris spoke about goals and visions, working together, and what the CAPC means to them, the commission heard about financial projections for 2025.

“Ty has been instrumental in putting together a very, very good budget, I think, for 2025, taking a lot of time and analyzing where we were and where we made some decisions that needed to be made to kind of rectify the budget for 2024 and how we can take a look at other income and also be conservative at the same time recognizing the fact that we probably would not meet the proposed projection for 2024 because of a lackluster first quarter,” Maloney said. “I think on the same token, we have a different scenario coming in the first quarter of 2025 because we already have guns loaded for marketing and advertising as we approach the new year.”

Reed told commissioners that the proposed income and tax remittance for next year is $2.1 million, with other income at $177,500, for a proposed budget of $2,277,500.

“We put $243,709 in media placement, $887,000 in ad production and $175,000 in special events,” Reed said, adding that the budget calls for $92,500 in group sales, $317,900 in operations for The Auditorium, and $510,150 for administrative costs. “It’s a balanced budget.

“We’re excited about doing some things differently next year, and I think this budget reflects that. It’s obviously just a first draft and we welcome your opinions.

“Our vision is to increase our budget in group sales dramatically because Janalee has some great vision. Right now she’s scheduled for eight trade shows and four wedding shows and she has ‘Fam’ tours scheduled and group tours, small things all over the place. She’s working really hard on getting people into town.”

Commissioner Robert Schmid questioned why so much money is consistently kept in the bank.

“…We have $2 million in the bank account,” Schmid said. “Why have we collected so much money that’s in the bank account and not spent it? I understand we need to have a little reserve, but do we really have to have $2 million? I’d like to see a budget which actually has a loss so we would start using our capital.”

That led to a conversation about possible future plans to fund a parking garage, something the CAPC has discussed for years. Schmid said he feels a parking facility should be something that falls under the city’s purview, not the CAPC.

“… One pitfall is enough to deplete large amounts of reserves,” commissioner Shira Fouste said during the discussion. “I don’t disagree, we need to address the things that need to be addressed, but I don’t think that we should squander away monies either just because they’re burning a hole in our pocket, so to speak.”

Later, Fouste added, “Nov. 5 is going to tell us a lot … in where monies are going to go,” referring to the date of the general election which includes a local ballot initiative that, if approved, would abolish the CAPC and repeal the 3 percent tourism tax that supports it.

Maloney said the reserves kept in the bank allow the CAPC to pivot when necessary.

“We’ve accumulated the opportunity to have some flexibility,” Maloney said. “If we want to, we can put another $100,000 in advertising, no problem. We also have been faced with the operational dilemma of [The Auditorium], which needs a brand-new HVAC unit. We’ve pumped in over $100,000 in it this past year. We run the biggest electrical bills the city’s ever seen, $13,000 one month, I believe that was the number. …” The proposed 2025 budget includes spending more money on advertising in the Kansas City area, along with the I-49 corridor, Maloney said, while also continuing to work with parks department on needed repairs to Basin Spring Park.

“We put on 35 concerts this past year at Basin Spring Park, and we’d like to continue that because it’s a great venue,” Maloney said, mentioning an idea of possibly adding sunshades or another device to help cool the park during the summer months.

Other items, such as photography and videography, will be scaled back in regard to Madden Media, the CAPC’s marketing and advertising agency, with the plan to use more local vendors for that work.

“We’ve come to the conclusion … we like the products that we have locally,” Maloney said of local companies. “We know really what their capabilities are, which are just awesome. We’ve got really world-class guys in this town that can do those things.”

Other items discussed included an increased budget for holiday spending for decorations and the possibility of giving CAPC staff pay increases. Commissioner Heather Wilson said her research indicates that state law allows for staff to receive pay increases up to 20 percent.

In all, Maloney said he felt comfortable with the projected budget and gave a lot of credit to Reed, who quickly got things in order after weeks without financial direction following the sudden June departure of former finance director Scott Bardin.

“I want to say a really very special thanks to Ty because he has been able to go back in on a lot of different things that we have never been able to see before, especially in terms of how money is basically calculated that we pay over to the city every payroll period,” Maloney said. “That’s a big thing and those things just never came out before.

“The other part of that is just an understanding of being able to put these things in a very understandable format, easy to figure out, and then really being able to work through the system in a way that has not been necessarily easy up to this point. We didn’t get into the bank account for a long time and now we’re able to reconcile, and then to be able to do these projects.”

The financial work is why he recommends that the CAPC hire Reed full time, Maloney said. Holifield said that topic would be addressed at the next regular meeting.