Charlottesville’s adopted budget for fiscal year 2025 anticipates the collection of $9.95 million in transient occupancy taxes, an increase of 15.2 percent over the current year.
The FY25 budget anticipates that over $1.5 million will go to the Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau for the purpose of tourism marketing.
“Our mission is to generate overnight visitation,” said Courtney Cacatian, the executive director of the CACVB. “That is what ends up generating the lodging. It also generates other taxes that go into the city’s budget and they fund you all.”
Council increased the rate from eight percent to nine percent of a customer’s bill, but the CACVB will not get additional revenue. According to the city’s agreement with the agency, CACVB gets 30 percent of the first five percent.
“So as you increase the transient occupancy tax, there is no additional amount that goes to our organization,” Cacatian said. “And just as a reminder, it is a government organization and not a nonprofit. That misconception happens a lot because we are combined with [Albemarle] County but we have the county as our fiscal year and are technically county employees.”
Noting the city’s $1.5 million allocation in FY25, City Councilor Michael Payne noted that CACVB had $711,082 allocated to it in FY2023.
“I’m curious from a practical perspective what does it look in what you’re doing differently operationally or marketing wise when the budget has doubled during that time,” Payne asked.
Cacatian said that wasn’t really the case. She reminded Council they contributed some of their share of American Rescue Plan Act funding to help with a drop in their revenues that year. The CACVB budget lags two years behind tax collections. For instance, the city allocation in FY21 was $1,212,692 in FY21 and $946,848. That reflects a dramatic drop in travel during the first year of the pandemic.
Last November, the publication Wine Enthusiast recognized the area as the Wine Region of the year. The CACVB actively pursued the honor and has used it to bring in visitors. (read the story)
“I know that our Wine Enthusiast recognition has increased one specific tour company that does wine tours by 35 percent this spring,” Cacatian said.
To learn more about the activities of the CACVB, visit their website.
Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment is from the May 9, 2024 edition of the newsletter. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.
Discover more from Information Charlottesville
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
