Chamber audit shared with town; board approves Heritage Day setup requests

Representatives of the Highlands Chamber of Commerce supplied the board with a Form 990 and a recent audit; chamber staff were not present at the meeting but the mayor said the documents had been provided and are available on the chamber website. Board members thanked the chamber for sharing financial information and discussed whether changes to older county legislation governing tourism-development authority (TDA) spending might be needed to clarify permissible uses of occupancy‑tax dollars.

The mayor suggested pursuing a workshop and outreach to county officials and the town’s legislative delegation to consider updates to county or statutory language related to tourism‑related expenditures. Commissioners discussed that Macon County’s occupancy tax rate is 3 percent and noted many counties use a 6 percent rate; they suggested discussing funding for services affected by visitor volume (police, EMS, sidewalks, solid waste) as part of any review.

Separately, the board approved the Chamber’s Heritage Day requests for Sept. 27, including permission to start event setup earlier (1 p.m.), two parking spaces on Fifth Street for band unloading, Friday-night closure of Pine Street for vendor setup, and relocation of the clogging stage to the plaza. The Chamber had arranged on‑site police coverage for the day.

Ending: Commissioners asked staff to set up a community workshop to discuss tourism‑related funding and to continue working with the Chamber on Heritage Day logistics.