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Benton County considers paying half-share for tourism analytics subscription
Summary
The county discussed a request from the Chamber (DMO) for a $6,000 county contribution toward a discounted $12,000 annual Placer AI subscription to help measure event attendance and visitor origin; the TRRD board had pledged half the cost and commissioners asked about privacy, costs, and shared contributions from cities.
Chamber of Commerce representative Laura (Lori) Matlock told the commission she had identified Placer AI as a commonly used anonymized mobile-device analytics service that would let the county and tourism board measure event attendance, origin of visitors, routes and dwell times. Matlock said the full, direct annual cost had been quoted at $24,000, but a county/chamber discounted rate of $12,000 was available; the Tennessee River Resort District (TRRD) board had offered to pay half, and commissioners were asked to consider funding the county’s half-share.
Matlock described the subscription’s uses for marketing, grant-writing and retail recruitment: “I can go into this software and tell you how many people attended that event, how many out-of-town visitors we had… and where they went when they left the event,” she said. She emphasized the product is anonymized, that it does not provide names or phone numbers, and that some limitations exist (it can’t always differentiate a single physical presence from multiple devices).
Commissioners raised privacy and accuracy questions, including whether the county could access the state’s Placer AI account (the state allows two free pulls per year), how the data are collected (cell phone app analytics), and whether other local governments or the industrial board would share cost. Matlock said the TRRD wants the county to take the other half of the subscription and indicated the price would rise to $15,000 in 2026.
The item was presented as a resolution to appropriate $6,000 for a one-year subscription (the commission’s budget committee and TRRD had discussed the request). Commissioners asked for clarification on stakeholders, possible city contributions and the staffing plan for the subscription; Matlock said county/chamber staff would produce the reports and pass findings to partners.
What’s next: The commission opened discussion and questions before a vote; the transcript records questions and answers but does not include an explicit roll-call tally in the provided segments.
