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Paragould A&P Commission Organizes With Eye Toward 2019

3 min read

The newly minted Paragould Advertising & Promotions Commission is hoping for an exciting 2019, but that first means a “boring” remainder of 2018, chairman Jeremy Biggs said Wednesday.

A city ordinance creating the commission went into effect Aug. 27, and there has been just one meeting so far. With the second meeting scheduled for Thursday, Biggs said now is the time for structuring, planning, organizing and getting a number of other necessary details worked out before money can be spent on projects.

“These first four meetings are going to be kind of boring, but we want to make sure we’re doing everything correctly and following state statutes and the ordinance,” Biggs said.

The commission was formed thanks to a 3 percent tax on local hotels and motels. The ordinance allows the city to use tax dollars from tourism to go toward improvement projects that would enhance quality of life in Paragould and attract visitors and new residents.

Everything from softball tournaments and food truck festivals to a public pavilion and creating new green spaces, and more, is on the table, said Biggs, a member of the city council and executive director of the second judicial district of the Arkansas State CASA Association.

Formation of the A&P commission has been a year in the making, Biggs said.

“I just wanted to, from the council level, I opened up discussion about why we’re not taking advantage of this revenue source and how it could benefit all the citizens of Paragould while not taxing the citizens of Paragould,” Biggs said. “Probably 98 percent of this tax is paid from out-of-towners or out-of-state travelers coming in. It’s just a tax on hotels and motels. Not restaurants or a burger tax or anything like that.”

The members of the commission were appointed by Paragould Mayor Mike Gaskill. Membership includes city council member Jackie Branch; attorney and at-large member Kimberly Dale; Hampton Inn and Suites manager Kodi Dobbins; Holiday Inn Express manager Tammy Smith; Marilyn White of White House Inn Bed and Breakfast and Joe Wessell, member of the Collins Theater Foundation.

Biggs said the commission would be open to projects of any size, as long as they were approved through the application process. Members were tasked with bringing ideas to the Thursday meeting. While no money will be spent until next year, there was at least some momentum for a pavilion that could be home to a farmers market and, possibly, for the renovation and repurposing of a former power plant downtown.

But first, Biggs said, it is important to organize and get an idea just what annual revenue the hotel-motel tax will generate so the city can look at projects long-term and plan for a reserve fund.

“We’re really not in any hurry at all,” he said. “It might be March before we open applications up and start cutting checks and starting projects.”

Biggs said part of the commission’s organization phase would include reaching out to commissions in other cities for input on ideas ranging from types of projects to commission structuring and processes.

It’s important, Biggs said, to first have a foundation from which to operate before plans are hatched.

“Hopefully 2019 will be the fun part,” he said.

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