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REGIONAL NEWS & INVESTIGATIONS
PO BOX 161702, Duluth MN 55816
Email contact@duluthmonitor.com
Phone (218) 391 - 8791
- All rights reserved.
How many white elephants should a community support? These attractions are subsidized one way or another directly or indirectly through tax dollars. If they were making money and run like a private business they would be lightening the financial burden on a community rather than continually contributing to it!
Larry:
It would be nice if venues were self-supporting, but not realistic. The real question should be “Who benefits from the large investment in tourism venues and the expansion of same?” Ms. Tanski would argue “the entire City,” but she is a full-on shill for the “industry.” Most tourism jobs pay slightly higher than minimum wage. Is that good for the entire City? Plus they pay no property tax to the City.
Net-net a positive? #dothemath
Actually, the majority of the employees are paid minimum wage or near minimum wage. There are a few management and long term union employees that make more.
It’s clear you do not understand that Visit Duluth is a direct marketing organization whose funding has been reduced greatly since 2015. Visit Duluth is not in control of the larger Tourism tax money that is collected. Rather they are the recipients of a small portion of these funds set aside for marketing Duluth as destination. The city of Duluth ultimately decides where the tourism tax dollars collected will be spent and therefore is the proper entity to decide whether Spirit Mountain should be receiving any additional funds to support them. I think Spirit Mountain is perfectly capable of going to the city to ask them for the $50,000 entry fee if they feel it’s a burden.
In 2015, Visit Duluth’s share of the tourism tax was $1,750,000. In 2016, it was $1,775,000. In 2017, it was $1,900,000. In 2018 and 2019, it was $2,000,000. It will also be $2,000,000 for 2020. Visit Duluth’s funding has not been “reduced greatly since 2015.” It has increased.
For more information on the tourism tax, please read this article:
https://duluthmonitor.com/2019/09/10/tourism-tax-talk/
The previous contracts with the city funded Visit Duluth on a % of the tourism tax dollars. The current contract has funding as flat 2,000,000, a portion of which is held back by the City of Duluth. This percentage reflects as the lowest % ever received in all the years since this self imposed tax was started and reduced amount of funding used for marketing by Visit Duluth. Milk was cheaper in 2015 too.
I am always amused to hear a $2 million organization crying poverty, but Visit Duluth does it every three years.
While it is true that Visit Duluth’s budget has remained flat at $2 million for three years, they have freed up additional marketing money by discarding Snocross ($50,000), discarding the Fourth of July fireworks ($50,000), and discarding Tall Ships ($80,000). SnoCross is now paid for by Spirit Mountain, the fireworks are paid for by the city, and Tall Ships is paid for by a private promoter. Thus, Visit Duluth has shifted $180,000 of their expenses onto other entities. That’s like getting a 9 percent raise.
As for milk, its price has declined by about 5 percent since 2015. If we are to follow that trend with Visit Duluth, we should reduce their budget by $100,000.
https://www.in2013dollars.com/Milk/price-inflation/2015