Aransas County Commissioners on Aug. 2025 heard requests from local nonprofits and the county’s convention and visitors bureau for hotel-occupancy-tax (HOT) funding, with presentations highlighting cultural tourism, volunteer cleanup work, airshow marketing and festival support.

The presentations matter because HOT funds are restricted to activities that promote tourism and generate “heads-and-beds” for the county; the organizations told the court they rely on that funding to sustain events and marketing that bring visitors and hotel nights to Aransas County.

Presenters described how HOT dollars will be used for marketing, supplies for volunteer environmental cleanups, program operations and capital or restoration work at heritage sites. Rockport Center for the Arts asked for $45,000 for a comprehensive marketing plan; the Rockport visitor center requested $60,000 to support visitor services and Seafair; and several museums and program operators described past attendance gains and asked the court to continue support. The court’s newly reconstituted tourism office (the CVB) requested expanded operating funds to run county-wide marketing campaigns; one commissioner indicated an initial offer of $70,000 pending court discussion.

Judy Sutterfield, speaking for KACB (the local cleanup and conservation group), described volunteer-led shoreline and island cleanups at Little Bay and Cove Harbor and said HOT funds pay for supplies, safety gear, marketing and refreshments for volunteer events. "We work hand in hand with coastal bins, bays, and estuaries to clean the summer's trash off the island," Sutterfield said, noting special permitting is required to access bird-protected islands.

Karen Arce, executive director of Rockport Center for the Arts, outlined a year-round calendar of exhibitions, classes and a live-music series and said the center logged 45,528 visitors between July 2024 and June 2025 and reported 29,071 room nights from survey responses in that period. Arce requested $45,000 in HOT funds for a multi-platform marketing plan including print, broadcast and digital advertising to sustain and grow cultural tourism.

Representatives of Fulton Oysterfest reported large volunteer participation and past revenue generation for local nonprofits. The oyster-fest representative said last year’s event drew roughly 27,000 visitors through the gate and that organizers would like $10,000 this year (the presenter said the group would accept $5,000 but preferred $10,000). He described festival proceeds used to buy emergency equipment such as a ladder truck and said nonprofit booths supply event labor.

The Rockport Maritime Museum and the Friends of Fulton Mansion described rising attendance after program and exhibit changes and requested HOT support for programming, outreach and selective restoration projects. Jane Hill, president of Friends of Fulton Mansion, noted the mansion’s statewide standing within the Texas Historical Commission system and described educational programs, destination weddings and plans to restore Harriet Fullerton’s garden; she also proposed scanning and 3D-printing fragile artifacts so visitors can interact with reproductions during hurricane seasons when originals are moved for safekeeping.

Cody Stewart and other airport and airshow organizers briefed commissioners on the Warbirds/airshow marketing work and a promotional commercial that in prior years drove significant online engagement; they asked for additional marketing support to anchor late-season visitation (quarter 4) and to grow the event toward a larger fly-in/airshow over several years.

Craig Griffin and Nanette Island presented on behalf of the county convention and visitors bureau (CVB). Nanette Island, the CVB’s tourism manager, described an ongoing campaign using Simpleview to build a county tourism website (visitrockportfulton.com planned for mid-October) and said the CVB has run digital and streaming ads that produced large impressions: the presenters reported hundreds of thousands of views and said the CVB’s outreach is intended to drive heads-and-beds countywide. One commissioner said he had offered $70,000 toward CVB operations pending court approval and further discussion.

Sheriff Smith told the court the department remains understaffed for courtroom security on Wednesdays and noted the office’s request for two additional deputies. He also described talks with the City of Fulton about an MOU for the sheriff’s office to act as backup patrol while Fulton builds its local force; Fulton proposed an annual $25,000 contribution to the county for backup services, and the sheriff said any MOU should include language that encourages Fulton to fill positions promptly to avoid leaving the county carrying a disproportionate response burden.

County officials asked clarifying questions about past HOT allocations and how award percentages were set; commissioners and staff noted some prior HOT disbursements are calculated as a percentage of collections (occasionally cited as "4%" in the discussion) and said they would check statutory or historical bases for those allocations. Some commissioners also discussed centralizing marketing buys through the CVB to make HOT-funded promotion more efficient, and they flagged the need for written agreements or invoicing if county money flows through the city or other entities.

No formal HOT funding votes were taken during the workshop; the court closed with a routine motion to adjourn that passed unanimously. "Motion passes," the court clerk announced as the meeting ended.

Looking ahead, commissioners said staff would return proposed funding packages and any memoranda of understanding (especially for the Fulton policing backup proposal) for formal consideration at a future meeting.