TAC sets timeline for bed‑tax grants, hears tourism metrics and visitor trends

City and tourism staff presented recent web and visitation data and reviewed the TAC grant process and timeline.

Arly (Experience Prescott staff) reported January web activity for the Experience Prescott press kit: about 26,000 active users, the 'things to do' page received roughly 19,000 views, and new users primarily came through paid social, organic and direct channels. Mike (tourism sales) provided STR and bed‑tax updates: fiscal‑year‑to‑date taxable activity through November was down just under 3%, bed‑tax receipts were down about 1.95%, and the report listed visitation and spending totals used for context.

John Heiney summarized the TAC grant program: grants are funded by the city's transient occupancy (bed) tax, are available only to registered nonprofits and can provide up to $5,000 per eligible event depending on scoring. Key dates announced: grant applications open Sunday, March 1; an optional applicant meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 5 at 3 p.m. at City Hall; the application deadline is Friday, April 3 at 5 p.m. TAC will likely review applications in May, award letters will be issued in June, and city council typically approves grants as a group in July. Staff advised organizers to consult the guidebook posted at experienceprescott.com and offered an email contact: hello@experienceprescott.com.

Staff also noted a special‑events policy reviewed at council that may return to TAC for refinement and that an ordinance review revealed a committee composition discrepancy; council is adjusting membership language so a council liaison will be a non‑voting liaison and an additional public member will be added to make 11 voting members.

Next steps: staff will publish the grant application on ExperiencePrescott.com on March 1, host the optional March 5 meeting, and prepare application materials for TAC review.