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Tourism budget cut draws criticism as outside-agency requests face board review
Summary
Commissioners reviewed a recommended budget that removes county funding for the tourism office and considered roughly $2.5 million in outside-agency funding requests; tourism and TDA board members warned the cut would hamper marketing for a sector the county estimates at roughly $200 million in annual economic activity.
The workshop turned to tourism and outside-agency allocations late in the session, with tourism staff and a TDA board member pressing the board to retain funding for the county’s tourism office.
Tourism Director Olivia said the tourism office was told its county funding had been zeroed out in the draft budget level under review. She described tourism work as broad and ongoing: destination marketing, partnerships with Visit North Carolina, heritage and outdoor promotion, visitor guides, social-media promotion and event support. "Tourism and agriculture top industry in our county," Olivia said, and noted the office mailed tens of thousands of visitor guides last year and recorded more than 3,000 website requests.
TDA member Miles Bielick told the board he was surprised by both the small TDA marketing budget historically and the proposed cut. He said the county collects roughly $4.47 million to $4.5 million in room occupancy tax countywide in 2024, but Pender County’s unincorporated portion contributed only about $44,000 to the county marketing line under prior arrangements. He urged commissioners to consider that tourism promotion supports a significant portion of the county’s economy and to weigh the return on even modest marketing budgets.
Board discussion then turned to outside‑agency funding. Finance staff provided the packet of outside-agency requests and a tally of prior funding. Commissioners and staff noted the long-standing list of non‑profit and agency requests and asked for clarity on which items are legally required, grant‑funded pass‑throughs, or discretionary sponsorships. The packet includes recurring pass-through items (for example, state grant pass-throughs and water‑district funding) as well as discretionary requests; staff estimated total outside-agency requests at roughly $2.5 million at the draft level.
Why it matters: tourism marketing and outside-agency allocations draw on occupancy-tax and general-fund resources; decisions affect marketing for the county’s visitor economy and funding for local non‑profits and service providers.
What's next: commissioners asked staff to separate statutory or committed pass-through items from discretionary grants, and asked each commissioner to review the outside-agency spreadsheet and indicate preferences ahead of the next workshop.
