Transient Guest Tax committee votes to renew Visit Topeka contract, forwards measure to council

The Transient Guest Tax Committee voted to approve a three-year contract renewal with Visit Topeka and will forward the measure to the Topeka City Council for final action. Committee members voted in favor after staff described the full contract and performance measures included as Exhibit A.

Visit Topeka's contract, as presented by staff, would allocate 90% of the base 5% transient guest tax (TGT) to Visit Topeka for operations, with a carve-out to allow Hotel Topeka's 8% TGT above a defined base year to be used to reimburse the city for hotel-related expenses. Staff said the contract replaces last year's one-page amendment and formalizes reporting and performance metrics.

Sean Dixon, Visit Topeka's presenter, emphasized the organization's role in marketing, sports sales and event recruitment. He noted Visit Topeka receives weekly hotel performance reports and provides quarterly P&L statements to the city per contract. He highlighted a five-year renewal with a major youth wrestling event that Visit Topeka said brings about $2 million in spending to Topeka annually.

Committee members voiced general support during discussion and praised recent marketing and sports recruitment work. One committee member asked staff to prepare follow-up materials on other TGT commitments to help assess availability for new requests (a separate memo request was made regarding Sunflower Soccer's arrangement).

A motion to approve the contract was made by a committee member and seconded; the committee record shows a unanimous voice vote in favor and no public comments were received at the meeting. The committee directed staff to seek placement of the contract on the council agenda (staff targeted December 3 for presentation to the full council).

The contract will now be transmitted to the Topeka City Council for final consideration.