OXNARD : City Weighs Funding for Visitors Bureau

The Oxnard City Council on Tuesday will consider three options to provide financial support for the Convention and Visitors Bureau to prevent it from being closed.

Former City Manager David Mora had recommended several months ago that the city eliminate its $398,000 contribution to the bureau as a way to reduce a projected $2.8-million deficit in the 1990-91 budget.

Instead, the City Council voted to contribute half of the amount to keep the bureau open until December.

The action was intended to give the city time to identify new ways to pay the salaries of the bureau’s six full-time staff members without draining the city’s coffers.

Robert D. Varley, executive chairman of the bureau, had warned the City Council that closing the bureau would have a devastating effect on the tax revenues generated for the city by hotels, motels and other tourism-related businesses.

One of the options that the council will consider is formation of an assessment district of motels, hotels and other businesses that benefit from the bureau’s activities.

Another option would be to require hotels and motels to pay a visitors’ fee, which would not to exceed the cost of the services provided by the bureau.

A third option is to ask the city’s voters to approve a 2% increase in the transient occupancy tax, which is charged on all hotel and motel rooms in the city.

The tax increase would require approval of a majority of the voters.

However, if the City Council decides to earmark the tax revenues to finance the bureau’s activities, adoption would require approval of two-thirds of the voters.