Wachs Seeks Funds for Valley Tourism Bureau

City Councilman Joel Wachs said he will seek funding for a new Valley tourism bureau from the increase in tax revenues from tourism this year.

Because tourism in L.A. County reached its highest point in 16 years in 1997, taxes on hotel stays--called the transient-occupancy or bed tax--are growing at double the rate of sales taxes.

Wachs said he supports using some of the revenues to help jump-start the San Fernando Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, a recently revived organization designed to promote the Valley as a tourist destination separate from the rest of L.A.

Wachs is responding to a request from the executive board of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., which voted this week to ask the city for bed-tax funds to help pay expenses for the Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“We would like to share in it,” said Bob Scott, co-chair of the local issues committee of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.

“The Valley has a lot of great strategic assets: Universal Studios, the [San Fernando] mission, the movie industry,” said David Iwata, the newly hired president of the bureau.

The bureau was formed several years ago, but languished until recently because “it didn’t have the leadership to keep it going,” said chairman Jay Aldrich. It was resurrected recently with the help of the Valley Economic Alliance, which donated office space, he said, and it is in the process of printing a magazine touting Valley destinations.

Currently, the bureau has collected about $30,000 from membership dues, he said. But Scott and others would like to see the city set aside some $500,000 in bed-tax dollars to support it.

Bed-tax revenues citywide are expected to jump by about 9% this year to about $100 million as regional tourism picks up steam.

Currently, a portion of bed taxes goes to fund the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, which promotes tourism for the whole region, including the San Fernando Valley.

The Valley contributes far less to hotel-related tax revenues per its population than do other areas of the city. Most bed taxes are generated by areas surrounding LAX, downtown and on the Westside, city officials said.

The Valley has about a third of the city’s population, but contributes about 16% of bed taxes, according to VICA and city officials.

Carol Martinez, spokeswoman for the L.A. bureau, opposed dividing bed-tax revenues between the Valley and the rest of the region. She said overseas promotions in particular require large expenditures, and money taken from the regionwide pool would hurt the city’s overall marketing program.

Bed-tax revenues also go to the city’s general fund to pay for police, fire and other city services.

City finance specialist Rex Olliff said that despite increases in bed-tax and sales-tax revenues, there is no surplus in the city budget. The city has to make up gaps in funding due to the phasing out of some funding sources, such as federal funding for police, he said.