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Texarkana A&P Commission hears funding pitches from dozens of event organizers and adopts new scoring rule
Summary
The Texarkana Advertising & Promotion Commission spent an evening hearing dozens of grant requests from event organizers and nonprofits, pressing for financial detail, and agreeing that if a majority of commissioners score an applicant zero the applicant receives no funding. Commissioners also debated whether multi‑year or profit‑making events should receive A&P support.
The Texarkana Advertising & Promotion Commission on Monday held a long round of presentations from local event organizers, tourism partners and nonprofits seeking A&P funding, pressing presenters for line‑item financial statements and details that would show how awards would put “heads in beds” for the Arkansas side of the city.
Commissioners opened by reminding applicants that awards must comply with the commission’s ordinance and state statute governing permissible uses of hotel/tourism taxes. “If those dollars aren’t collected and distributed, it becomes OK — there’s no dollars to promote our half of the city,” Commissioner George said in a defense of the commission’s role and of the three‑year funding window that the commission uses to rotate support among projects. “The money that’s collected through AMP is the only dollars that are collected to promote Texarkana, Arkansas,” he said.
Commissioners repeatedly pressed applicants to show event‑specific profit‑and‑loss documents. Mills, a commission member, said the commission paused its normal funding cycle in 2025 when a proposed ballpark threatened to commit “approximately $750,000 per year … for the next 15 years,” a move that would have left little funding for other projects. That proposal was later withdrawn, Mills said, and the commission restored funding opportunities.
Presenters included downtown festivals, countywide nonprofits and for‑profit event producers. Winners Circle, which presented a video of downtown Mardi Gras and Catfish & Mudbug Festival activity, said its contract with the city is focused on bringing overnight stays and restaurant traffic. County hotel‑and‑visitor analytics staff provided estimates for earlier events — for example, Tyler reported 2,700 visitors at one Catfish & Mudbug Festival and 1,700 at this year’s edition, with dozens of Arkansas hotel room nights tied to those events — but several commissioners said the commission needs supporting invoices and itemized expense records to award reimbursements for 2025 expenses.
Commissioners also questioned recurring support for private, for‑profit event producers. The commission’s attorney reminded the body that public funds cannot be used as a general subsidy of private owners’ salaries or business profit; commissioners said that if they award a for‑profit applicant they will require detailed line items showing how the A&P funds would be spent on tourism promotion rather than business profit.
On procedure, the commission adopted a voting rule to guide allocation: if a majority of commissioners (four of six) mark an applicant at zero, that applicant will receive no funding; otherwise the award will be computed as the average of the commissioners’ allocations. The change was offered as a way to reduce outlier awards and to ensure consensus-based rejections. Commissioners said they will collect allocation sheets and tally awards after presentations are complete.
Next steps: the commission will tabulate funding slips, apply the new majority‑zero rule, and announce award amounts in a follow‑up meeting. Several applicants were told to return with clearer, itemized financial statements or additional documentation if they want reimbursement for prior expenses or multi‑year commitments.
