Hayward Lakes Visitor and Convention Bureau asks Sawyer County for $50,000 to stabilize tourism marketing

Mindy Simons, director of the Hayward Lakes Visitor and Convention Bureau (HLVCB), asked the Sawyer County committee for a $50,000 county contribution to stabilize tourism promotion and destination development funding.

Simons said HLVCB analysis shows a 2024 economic impact of $151,000,000 for Sawyer County tourism, $10,500,000 in state and local taxes and support for 960 local jobs. "The county's contribution helps ensure our operating expenses in case there are revenue fluctuations," she said, and added that the HLVCB follows state statute by using room-tax revenue for advertising, promotion, convention and sport recruitment, visitor services and destination development rather than for payroll or utilities.

Simons described the distribution of room taxes across the county: six municipalities have room-tax ordinances and only four contract with HLVCB; three municipalities adopted ordinances since a 2017 county resolution encouraged municipalities to establish room taxes. She said the county's requested contribution represents a fraction of the total tourism economic impact — about 0.0331 percent — and that HLVCB has held its county request at $50,000 for several years.

Committee members asked for more local breakdowns of the statewide statistics and discussed whether a deeper county investment could improve returns. A committee member recommended placing the HLVCB report before the finance committee for further review; Simons said she is prepared to present at that meeting.

No formal committee vote was taken on the request during the meeting; the matter will be considered as part of the budget process and finance-committee review.