The event incubator

If you’re a Cheney organization interested in getting an event started, or finding funding for one already in the works, you should know there’s a pile of money out there to help.

You should also understand one important caveat — to get that money, you need to show your event is going to get people to come to Cheney and spend money.

If that event meets the criteria, Cheney’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee would like to hear from you because after distributing money earlier this spring, there is still over $77,600 — and climbing — in funding available. The committee, which was created by a 2007 ordinance, is composed of representatives from the City Council along with businesses paying the state’s lodging tax and organizations that might use it.

Currently that committee is composed of City Councilman Doug Nixon, Holiday Inn Express owner Debbie Anderson, Eastern Washington University’s Lisa Poplawski, director of alumni advancement and Karen Wichman, facilities services director. Other community members have served on the committee, which since its inception in 2008 has distributed $242,325.27 of the $329,080.15 in lodging taxes collected through the beginning of 2016.

Committee service does come with the potential for conflict since members must be from businesses paying the tax and those standing to benefit from event attendance. There’s also the possibility members might also be serving on organizations requesting the funding.

Besides council and the committee, Nixon serves as president of the Cheney Merchants Association, which received $12,500 from 2012 – 2015 that included $7,500 last year it used to help Cheney Mayfest. Nixon said committee members abstain from discussion and voting on applications where they have some affiliation.

“When we ask for money for CMA, I don’t vote,” he said.

Early on, the committee disbursed a lot of money annually Cindy Niemeier, Cheney finance director and committee adviser, said, averaging just under $38,100 a year from 2009 – 2013. That amount has shrunk the past couple of years to a low of $8,350 in 2016.

The number of organizations receiving money has also dropped. In the past, just about everyone applying received funding, while in 2016, just two of the six organizations submitting applications were awarded money.

“The last couple of years, they’ve (committee) been more selective,” Niemeier said. “What they want are homegrown events. We want people to come to Cheney to eat in our restaurants, stay in our hotels and spend money here.”

Nixon, who was appointed to the committee by current Mayor Tom Trulove in 2008, said the objective is even more specific than that. In a sense, the Lodging Tax Committee should be a sort of event incubator, helping organizations raise hard to find funds to get started.

“The hope is the event takes hold and they’ll become self-sufficient,” City Administrator Mark Schuller said.

“It’s hard to raise money in Cheney,” Nixon adds. “Our goal is to make organizations get on their own after 4 – 5 years.”

One of those Nixon feels will be on its own two feet financially is Mayfest, which received the lion’s share of this year’s to-date distribution, $7,800. The annual downtown event, in its fourth year, received money last year, and Nixon believes as the event grows with activities and regional awareness, that will decrease.

“In the next 2 – 3 years, they won’t have to have any (lodging tax) money,” he said.

But other organizations applying for funding were turned down, mainly because what was being requested didn’t go towards getting people to stay and spend money in Cheney, at least immediately. The Sterling-Moorman House Association requested funding for improvements, while the Cheney Depot Society asked for money to help its efforts to move Cheney’s former Northern Pacific Railroad Station.

“State law is very explicit,” Niemeier said about lodging tax revenue uses. “You can’t give money for a capital expense.”

Another organization shutout this year was the Cheney Rodeo, which had received $34,428 since 2011. Nixon said part of that was again because the money was used to fund improvements, such as new bleachers, and the committee is becoming more focused on achieving results of “heads in beds.”

Those results can often be difficult to quantify, but must be in order to receive the funding. Past events such as the Cheney Jubilee, 2012 – 2014, used volunteers to wander the crowd and ask people where they were from and if they stayed overnight.

In requesting funding this year, Mayfest estimated 100 people would travel to Cheney for the event, May 13 – 14, and noted 65 of the 500 attendees last year traveled 50 miles or more to Cheney. It’s the paperwork after the event along with the upfront application requirements that have led some groups to stop applying, such as the Cheney High School Alumni Association’s annual summertime reunion.

“We would give (to them) because it puts heads in beds,” Nixon said.

Niemeier admitted the post-event information can be intimidating. It may only be one page, but it’s a lot of information.

“We have to report to the state those categories, though,” she said. “I can’t make them up.”

But, there’s still a lot of money in the lodging tax coffers that could do some good for local organizations looking to hold an event bringing people to Cheney. Both Niemeier and Nixon encourage organizations to take a look at what they need and are doing and apply.

“The committee is ready to help with others should something come up,” Schuller said. “And that’s just good for everybody.”

More info

Top 10 organizations/events receiving lodging tax funding since 2008

Cheney Jubilee $60,000 ((2012 – 2014)

Sports Commission $40,000 (2009 – 2010)

Cheney Rodeo $34,428 (2011 – 2015)

Cheney Museum $29,400 (2009 – 2011)

Pathways/Mayfest $19,614 (2008 – 2010)

Ice Age Floods $16,750 (2009, 2011, 2013)

Pop Warner Football $13,700 (2010 – 2012)

Cheney Merchants $12,500 (2013 – 2015)

Gran Fondo $ 5,872 (2014 – 2015)

West Plains CC $ 5,000 (2008)

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].