Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tourism And Economic Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Wichita council approves TBID budget and Visit Wichita outlines events driving millions in local spending
Summary
The Wichita City Council approved the Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) 2026 scope and budget after a presentation from Visit Wichita detailing recent events and economic impacts; public commenters questioned Visit Wichita's finances and the organization's lease in the WaterWalk development.
The Wichita City Council on May 6 approved the Tourism Business Improvement District scope of services and budget for fiscal year 2026, endorsing Visit Wichita's plan to use TBID funds to attract and stage meetings and leisure events that city staff and the agency said generate millions in economic activity.
Visit Wichita President and CEO Susie Santo told the council the TBID budget for 2026 is built on estimated TBID revenue of $3,900,000 and that the organization only spends money after it is remitted from hotels. She highlighted recent events that Visit Wichita helped bring to the city, including national- and world-level figure skating and NCAA tournament rounds that staff said produced multi-million-dollar local economic impacts.
The council vote followed public comments raising concerns about Visit Wichita's finances and oversight. Resident Celeste Rosette said Visit Wichita had not been competitively rebid in more than a decade and questioned the agency's cash and investment balances and its 10-year prepaid lease at WaterWalk. Rosette cited the agency's audit and argued the city should consider moving the tourism center into the former central library to reduce rent.
Council and staff offered figures during the meeting: the city manager's office reported unaudited transient guest tax collections of $9.8 million for 2024 and said Visit Wichita received $2,635,000 in its base contract for that year plus about $130,000 for convention promotion for a total of $2,765,000 shown in Visit Wichita's audit. Council members asked staff for further breakdowns of transient guest tax flows and noted the TBID carryforward balance and how unused TBID dollars are handled.
Santo defended the TBID-funded events as investments in tourism and local business, noting Visit Wichita's five-year leisure and group-marketing return-on-investment data and describing the planned TBID-supported events and influencer visits for 2025 and 2026. City staff said any TBID carryforward would be presented to the TBID advisory group for review before use.
The council placed the TBID scope on the consent calendar and approved it without amendment. The roll call was unanimous.
