A&P gives more than $540,000 to 30 groups
Texarkana, Ark., Advertising and Promotion Commission allocated more than $540,000 to 30 events and organizations during its annual funding meeting Thursday.
More than 30 applicants made five-minute pitches to the commission for a share of the tax revenues being handed out in the marathon meeting that began at 2 p.m. and was still going, heading into an executive session, at 8:30 p.m.
The panel also tackled other agenda items related to a legal ruling and recent complaints about the way it conducts business.
The commission’s purpose is to use the city’s 2 percent hotel and 3 percent restaurant taxes to promote the city and attract visitors, thereby supporting the local economy.
Chairman Buddy Allen said at the meeting’s outset that applicants were requesting at least four times as much funding as the discretionary funds the commission had available.
Commissioner and Ward 3 Director Tim Johnson urged a conservative approach as the panel began deliberating award amounts.
“Just because we have it doesn’t mean we have to spend it,” he said.
To create a starting point for the discussion, each commissioner wrote down his or her preferred award amount for each applicant, and those amounts were averaged. The commission then deliberated whether the average or a different amount would be the appropriate allocation. In almost all cases, it rounded the average down to the nearest round number.
Organizations and their 2018 A&P funding amounts are:
1894 LLC, to support Second Saturday Trade Day: $3,600 Arkansas Welcome Center, Red River: $600 Arkansas Welcome Center, Texarkana: $3,500 Booker T. Washington Alumni Association: $1,000 City Beautiful Commission: $19,000 Downtown Neighborhood Association: $10,000 Four States Auto Museum: $13,000 Four States Fair Association: $100,000 a year for three years Gateway Farmers’ Market: $5,000 Gathering of Authors: $9,000 John M. Measel Community Center: $10,000 Kennel Club of Texarkana: $3,500 Live United Bowl: $29,000 Main Street Texarkana: $14,000 Mardi Gras: $15,000 Municipal Auditorium Commission: $8,000
Opportunities Inc.: $20,000 Partnership for the Pathway: $7,000 Railfest: $3,000 Runnin’ WJ Ranch: $19,000 Texarkana Arts and Historic District: $4,000
Texarkana Broad Street Galleries: $17,000
Texarkana Chamber of Commerce: $16,000
Texarkana City Planning Division: $1,500
Texarkana Museums System: $13,000
Texarkana Parks and Recreation Department: $150,000
Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council: $17,000
Texarkana Symphony Orchestra: $16,000 Twin Cities Sports: $7,000
Ultimate Challenge Productions: $7,000
Attorney Josh Potter briefed the commission on a judge’s recent ruling that all the financial incentives it provided the original owner of Arkansas Convention Center will transfer to the new owner, offering his opinion that any appeal of the ruling would be expensive and almost certainly futile.
“I don’t think there’s any use in attacking those opinions,” he said.
The commission voted to table the issue and consider taking action at a future meeting.
Gathering of Authors made a request for funding in addition to that it received in October 2016. Organizer Tammy Thompson pleaded for the additional funds, saying that this year’s event, which takes place in a week, depended on it.
“This event is in your hands at this point,” she said. “Otherwise, I don’t know how we’re going to pull this off.”
The commission voted 4-2 to refuse the request, with only Claude Moore and Joyce Dennington voting to provide the extra money.
The commission’s refusal to vote on the request in a September meeting sparked recent controversy. During the meeting, Potter interpreted commission bylaws to mean that a unanimous vote of all commissioners is required to approve funding outside the normal, annual October allocation.
Gathering of Authors complained to state and city officials, pointing out that the commission has awarded such funding without a unanimous vote multiple times.
Earlier this week at the request of city Finance Director TyRhonda Henderson, Gathering of Authors organizer Amanda Bowers sent her a list of the steps she believes “the A&P should take to restore taxpayer confidence and the integrity of the A&P Commission.”
Bowers called for “equitable treatment” for all applicants for A&P funding; suspension of the commission’s bylaws “until they can be revised to accurately reflect both state statutes and city ordinances”; a new chance to request additional 2017 funding for Gathering of Authors; and removal of commission Chairman Buddy Allen, alleging he has engaged in “defiant behavior and authoritarian approach to public service.”
The commission brought the email up for discussion at Thursday’s meeting, but took no action on it.
“When things come up and people have questions, I think we’re addressing them,” Commissioner Linda Teeters said.
Allen offered an apology, first citing his history of public service dating to 1965 and a “regimented” business career.
“In looking back over working with the community in this particular case, it may come across that I’m being disrespectful. I had no intention of being disrespectful, and if I have been disrespectful, from the very bottom of my heart, I apologize,” he said.
“A half-hearted apology doesn’t mean anything to the taxpayer,” Bowers later responded.
The commission agreed to discuss Allen’s possible removal along with its vacant seat during the executive session scheduled for the end of the meeting. No action was expected to be taken afterward.
“I guess as a taxpayer I’m left with no option but to resort to legal action and file a lawsuit to resolve this matter,” Bowers added after the meeting.
On Twitter: @RealKarlRichter