Mar. 17—Because of submitted written protests from a slim majority of lodging businesses within the Yuba Sutter Tourism Improvement District, the organization in charge of managing the district and promoting tourism in the Yuba-Sutter area is at risk of being lost.
On Tuesday, the Yuba City City Council conducted a public hearing for the possible renewal of the Yuba-Sutter Tourism Improvement District (YSTID) Assessment. This assessment is a two percent tax that is passed onto guests who stay at participating area lodges with no cost to the taxpayers or businesses involved.
The entity responsible for managing the YSTID is the Yuba-Sutter Lodging Association. This association is a nonprofit organization created to encourage tourism opportunities in the area and thus bring in more money to the community. As part of its mission, it currently runs the website Visit Yuba-Sutter (visityubasutter.com) and has been a heavy contributor to the newly established Film Yuba-Sutter!, a film commission that is expected to increase economic activity in the region.
"The community would be losing out on the funding source that's not funded from jurisdictional funding, it's not extra tax, it's levied from visitors coming into the region," Jacob Young, president of the Yuba-Sutter Lodging Association and general manager at Collins Lake Recreation Area, said after Tuesday's meeting. "So, a pretty much free money at the table type feeling for the community. We'd be expecting four-plus million dollars over this next 10-year period being directed towards reinvesting into getting more people into our communities. Economic development will take a huge hit from this loss, for sure."
In May 2016, the city council authorized the Yuba City city manager to enter into an agreement with the Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce to establish the district for a five-year term.
The initial commitment by the city at its 2016 meeting was for $123,500. From that money, $70,000 went to the Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce for its continuing efforts with Visit Yuba-Sutter and $53,500 went to the Sacramento-based company Civitas, which was going to help guide the city and the chamber through the 10-month process of forming the tourism business improvement district, according to Appeal archives.
The district was established in March 2017, according to a staff report, in order to help "fund marketing and sales, sports and outdoor recreation, transportation, visitor programs, and promotions for Yuba-Sutter lodging businesses."
The businesses benefitting from the YSTID are in jurisdictions such as Yuba City, Marysville, Live Oak, Wheatland, and unincorporated areas of Yuba and Sutter counties.
On Tuesday, Ben Moody, Public Works & Development Services director for Yuba City, presented the city council with results from written protests by businesses who were no longer interested in being a part of the district and the two percent tax that is passed on to visitors at participating hotels. Of those participating businesses, about 54 percent did not want to be involved with the district or tax.
"We've received some input from local hotels that they've decided to change their vote and provide additional protest measures," Moody said. "Since that second meeting, we've received 11 written protests in writing from owners, from representative general managers of the hotel that represent the ownership, that have voted no. With that, that throws the protest over the 50 percent threshold to 54 percent."
The 11 businesses that submitted written protests, according to Moody, included Marysville establishments such as American Best Value Inn, Budget Inn, Motel 6 and Townhouse Hotel; Yuba City businesses such as Bonanza Inn, Days Inn, Nice Inn, Best Western and Travelodge; and Peace City Inn and Rio Inn in Yuba County.
During a public hearing regarding this issue at the city council's February meeting, one member of the Yuba-Sutter Lodging Association spoke up about their opposition to the tax and district.
"We along with 10 other businesses oppose the renewal," Jessie Bains, who owns the Travelodge in Yuba City along with her husband Josh Bains, said at that February meeting. "We opposed it five years ago. We continue to oppose it. We do not see any benefit to our business, so at this point we are in strong opposition."
At Tuesday's public hearing on the matter, the owners of the lodging businesses had the opportunity to change their protest stance, but none did.
"If the valid protest has been made, more than 54 percent, then no action can be made by the council and the renewal dies. So, it's state law that basically the renewal ... could not come back for up to one year," Moody said.
Those in favor of the Yuba-Sutter Lodging Association made a last-ditch effort Tuesday night to try and save what they see as a no-cost benefit for the region.
Marni Sanders, CEO of the Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce, said the tax imposed on guests is incredibly low compared to the overall good the association has done and continues to do.
"It's a fraction of a cost to a guest, but it means a great deal to our community," Sanders said. "... From the Chamber's vantage point, the YSLA has been actively engaged in attracting tourism to our community, promoting Yuba-Sutter as a destination. You know, attracting tourism has been a long-term effort, but an effort that I hope that we don't give up on as a community. It's good for business and it's good for our community. The YSLA has made great strides over the past several years."
In a letter to the city, Sanders said the Yuba-Sutter Lodging Association has built a "strong marketing and outreach plan" and has supported local events that draw in tourism to the area. Those events include the Swan Festival, the Peach Festival and Bike Around the Buttes.
Sanders said if the YSTID and Yuba-Sutter Lodging Association goes away, funding for marketing with traditional and online media, website development and staffing would not exist. She also said the continued financial support for the Yuba-Sutter film commission by the association would be lost.
"YSLA, they recognized that this investment will promote tourism and visibility for the region, but more importantly it's going to provide huge opportunities for economic development and job creation for our region," Sanders said. "So, without the Yuba-Sutter Lodging Association's presence, what happens to tourism? Is it going to go away entirely? ... Sadly, Film Yuba-Sutter! is at risk of losing continued funding and we're just getting started. The Yuba-Sutter region has a treasure trove of destinations for all kinds of big and small adventures, not to mention some spectacular businesses here that benefit from having visitors. ... It's a great community asset that presents us many wonderful opportunities."
Lee Jones, owner of The Harkey House in Yuba City, said that the Yuba-Sutter Lodging Association was so busy marketing tourism that the group failed to reach out to other lodges.
"I apologize for that. We have work to do. We're still in the infancy. We haven't given up. We have remarkable things to offer guests," Jones said.
Both Young and Jones said the issues that those who protested had with the Yuba-Sutter Lodging Association were not actually things the association could control.
"When I reached out to a lodger, one of the things was not us, it was chickens. She is losing business," Jones said. "I have had four guests come in who will no longer go to one of our motels because the chickens keep them up all night. Some of the issues were not us. Some of them are the chickens and you got to take a look at that. Meanwhile, I'm getting more guests, but I would rather share those guests with other good motels here."
Jones also stressed that the tax placed on visitors is a small amount of money compared to the actual cost of staying at any given establishment.
"We're $210 a night in Yuba City, the cottage is $250 a night including breakfast, and that little two percent was $5, $4," Jones said. "And no one here pays it. It's the visitors that come and stay in our motels and bed and breakfasts that pay it. And the money's going to go away. So we're throwing out the baby with the bathwater, it's too bad."
Young said the decisions by the lodgers against the assessment and district has been a "bittersweet" process. He said because of feedback received from opposing businesses, a five-year commitment to the YSTID was proposed instead of a 10-year commitment as an alternative.
"The Yuba-Sutter Lodging Association has conducted outreach to those hotels that were in opposition. It's led to really fruitful conversations. It's bittersweet to be here. I know that we're currently at a majority opposition," Young said. "It's bitter because obviously being in that position is not fun to be in. However, it has been sweet because we have had fruitful conversations with a number of those lodgers to get their feedback and insights into why they are opposed. And that has been, really, a nice way to get their feedback in this.
"Again, it is unfortunate that due to the sensitivity of timing to get any of that feedback implemented to have them feel supportive of the effort ... was a difficult timing with that and something that we obviously would have wished over the five years we could have gotten more involvement in that time period. However, it's still great to have that moving forward, because we will still have activity going forward, so to have that insight, so hopefully when we come forward with a future renewal, we'll be able to have those feedbacks at play to be implemented into a future plan."
As a result of the majority protests that were submitted to the city, the fate of the Yuba-Sutter Lodging Association and its promotional efforts is still unknown. Along with waiting a year to come back before the council for a renewal, there was at least one other option presented by Young to help save the association.
"Options moving forward, one, there was a jurisdiction that entirely their lodges opposed this, that'd be the city of Marysville. So, technically ... Marysville could be excluded from the Tourism Improvement District because the entire industry in that jurisdiction wrote letters of opposition," Young said. "So, that is technically an option that would reduce the letters of protest down to less than 50 percent and would allow council to vote on this item regardless of what the public comment decisions brings. And then obviously, if no change was made to the district, the majority protest remains, and then the YSLA would have to wait one more year before coming before (the council) to renew this effort."
