Clarksville, TN – The City of Clarksville is considering creating, by Resolution, an “ACT (Arts, Culture & Tourism) Authority” that would become the entity through which all arts and heritage, culture, and tourism in the City gain funding and support.
It would function as a legally separate entity from the City government but with Board appointments exclusively provided by the City. The Board would appoint the Executive Director of the Authority.
The Authority and its partners would be assigned the responsibility of ensuring that all resources flowing to arts and tourism and their facilities within the City be managed in the most efficient way possible.
“The creation of this ACT Authority comes with the intent of obligating and ensuring a solid base of revenue support and daily management, for our entire package of arts, culture and tourism offerings in the City of Clarksville,” said Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts.
“I greatly appreciate our Chief Financial Officer, Laurie Matta, who spent countless hours researching this endeavor and creating a sound, workable solution that is quite exciting, and will carry the City forward with confidence,” Mayor Pitts said.
The main objectives of the Authority, are:
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To maximize the economic, tourism, social and cultural benefits of Clarksville
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To identify and assist in developing cultural events and providing a location to display the various forms of art within Clarksville
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To coordinate a calendar of events for cultural and artistic creators
An Authority devoted to Arts, Culture and Tourism would be beneficial in that it offers:
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Sustainability, by bringing all arts under one umbrella with the goal of them being self-supporting entities to preserve the arts and history while also supporting the downtown area with tourist destinations. For these entities to continue to grow, they must become self-sustaining and self-supporting.
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Economies of scale, by utilizing one marketing strategy, one Human Resources department, and one department, each, for Accounting and Maintenance, among others. This will reduce individual costs and make them more efficient.
The City is creating this Authority, in part, to assist with financing the new Clarksville Performing Arts Center, a long-awaited capital project.
In order to finance a large Performing Arts Center that will provide a public service, and also a private benefit, debt will need to be issued to pay for this project. State law prohibits the City from lending its credit. This separate Authority can issue debt and avoid the lending-of-credit issue.
The Authority, and not the City, will hold title to the property for the Performing Arts Center and Customs House Museum & Cultural Center.
In the event that the Authority ever failed or was dissolved, those assets would revert back to City ownership.
Funding for the Authority would be derived from revenue that it generates to operate the facilities.
Other funding sources would be:
- City Hotel/Motel tax of 4%, dedicated to tourism, resulting in approximately $2.2 million annually
- County Hotel/Motel tax of 8% with 12.5% to the City’s General Fund. The County ratified a measure on July 9th, 2018, stipulating that, approximately $650,000 annually would be budgeted to fund City tourism. It is currently budgeted to fund the Museum.
Under this plan, the Museum, Arts & Heritage Council, and Roxy will each submit budget requests to the Authority Director annually, who will, in turn, allocate funding to each entity.
The goal is for the Authority to be self-supporting. As it launches, if revenues and the two categories of Hotel/Motel tax that the City will dedicate to the Authority are not sufficient, the Authority may request financial assistance from the City. The City can use non-property/ad valorem tax dollars to support the Authority.
To help the Authority get started with funding, the City will appropriate initial funding in its budget and assist the start-up organization with cash flow.
