Lodgers' Tax Advisory Board - Regular Meeting

Welcome. Good afternoon, everyone. I guess I'm gonna call us to order, and what it says to start here with is introduction. So I'll start with myself. I'm Jennifer Olsen. I work at the Bradbury Science Museum, and I'm currently chair of LTAP.

Hello. I'm Dana Evan, and I manage the Holiday Inn Express here in Los Alamos.

Good morning. My name is doctor Shanna Sasser, and I'm the economic development administrator for the county.

I'm Kevin, member at large on the Lodgers Tax Board.

We can have our people online introduce themselves as well.

I'll let Connor go first.

I was gonna offer to let you go first. I'm Connor Tharp. I am currently in Espanola. I work for the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area. It's a little bit of a hike to get up there today, so thanks for making a Zoom option available. I am a new member of the Lodgers Tax Board.

Yay. Welcome. I'm Joni Griffin. I'm the founding principal of Sunny five zero five, and we're your tourism marketing contractor.

I'm Ellen Felton. I'm the staff liaison for Lodger's Tax Advisory Board.

Yeah. I'm Melanie Ant, and I'm I'm here just on a draft assignment. We don't have anything finalized yet, but I thought, well, I'm assigned for now. So so I'll show up. The final assignments will be made at the January 28 meeting. So

Alright. Great. So the next item, hopefully, everybody has seen the packet that was published. And, if you're here in the room, there are printed versions of this as well, and we'll move to the approval of today's agenda.

I had one suggestion. I'm not sure of the parliamentary procedure, but one addition I would like to offer for the agenda. Okay.

I don't know what the Is there looking at all

That would be a great question.

Oh. Shana, do you know? I think it has to it it depends, I guess, what the matter is. Right. I think it depends on the matter whether or not it's something we can add at the end.

Yeah.

Busy for the fifth of Sunday or whatever be new business for vaccine.

Yeah. So maybe just bring it up in new business?

Correct. Yes.

Yep. That's good because I had the same question for for Ellen earlier, and I sent her an email about it. Alright. So can I get someone to motion to approve today's agenda?

I I move to approve today's agenda.

Alright. Madam chair, I second that motion.

Dana has to do it.

Madam chair, I second that emotion.

Heard the motion. You're teased to the the song. Okay. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Okay. Anyone opposed? So we'll accept the agenda as is. Our next motion our next matter is to review and approve the meeting minutes from our last meeting, and they are in the packet, I think. I know. I'm getting there. Everybody needs to hear my own inner talk.

We need a motion to approve the minutes from some of the voting members.

Madam chair, I'd like to motion to approve the minutes.

Alright. And I second so all those in favor of approving the minutes, say aye.

Is there a discussion?

Oh, there is. If you have something that you need to

The the only thing just being new to the board is this generally kind of the level of detail to anticipate for minutes and kind of a very high level outline Yes. Without any details. And is the since these are being recorded, are they available to the public if somebody wants to see the details? They can go in and and click on a link and see somehow?

Or Yes. So if you go online to the Legistar in Los Alamos County website, you can view a recording as well as the minutes of the agenda. Usually, we try to get those in about a week or two. We try to aim for a week after the actual meeting itself. This first one did take a minute because it was my first time doing it, so we had to get approvals to get me access to the programs and all that fun stuff. But it is up there now for anyone who would like to view it.

Oh, good. Good. Thank you. I I think this is a very high level outline, which is fine with me, but I think it's great, though, that it's also available for people to see what was the details of what were discussed.

So we had a motion to approve and a second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Anyone opposed? Alright. So the motion passes. We do have a moment now for public comment for items not on the agenda. Yeah. Go ahead, Alan. Gonna suggest you just go to that microphone and then push the button,

and then it will let you speak.

Okay. It is green. Now I just wanna say, you know, in last meeting well, my name is Alan Saenz, business owner. And also, I'm part of Los Alamos Business Coalition, and I just wanna say something that in last meeting, in the county meeting, Anne Laurent, a county manager, said that, you know, when we're looking at how to diversify in the economy,

now

that that there is gonna be less revenue from the lab, she said that tourism, it is the key. So I just wanna bring that up because that was really nice to hear that she thinks that and and also how that will impact local businesses from existing tourist visitors that are coming to Los Alamos. So I just wanna mention that, and, and that is positive. Thank you.

Thanks, Alan. Thanks for saying that. Alright. Anyone else? I think Ellen's the only one who's not a member here. And so now I have us open meeting law presentation. Yes. That will be coming from me today. I just wanted to go

over this because we do have quite a few new members on the board. There are other parts that we can discuss if you guys want a separate session on training since a lot of you might be new to a position like this. So I just wanted to briefly go over the New Mexico Open Meetings Act and Inspection of Public Records Act that is valid in the state of New Mexico. So it's known as the sunshine laws. So all people all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them.

The formation of public policy or the conduct of business by vote shall not be conducted in closed meetings. All meetings of a quorum of members of any board or commission held for the purpose of formulating discussing public business for the purpose of taking any action within the authority of the commissions are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all times except as otherwise provided by law. And then under IPRA, the law requires open access almost all public records in state and local government, with few exceptions. All of you guys agreed to this when you were applying to be on the board during your interview process, but I think it's just a good reminder. Some requirements for a public meeting are quorum, so a majority of the appointed members.

We need to have a notice no less than ten days before a meeting were we to meet. In addition, the agenda must be available at least seventy two hours prior to the meeting. For example, for today's meeting, those were published on Friday afternoon, giving more than enough of that notice. It must also include specific items of business to be discussed or transacted. You guys receive these via email, but if you did not know, they are also published outside the front doors here to the municipal building.

If you were looking to find those, they are published there as well as online at that time. In addition, we talked about meeting minutes a little bit, but it must include the date, time, and place of meeting, who was in attendance, etc. All minutes are open to public inspection which is why we publish them online for people to view. Draft minutes should be prepared within ten working days after the meeting and should be approved, amended, or disapproved at the next meeting where a quorum is present. In addition to that, meetings must follow the published agenda.

So only items listed on the published agenda may be discussed by the board. So that answers our question from earlier. Public comment items for next meeting and the ability to schedule a special meeting are the only kind of extra things that might be added. Something to note, rolling or walking quorums are prohibited. A quorum may exist for purposes of the act even when members are not physically present together at the same time and place.

So, for example, people discussing business in a series of telephone or email conversations. Such discussion is a meeting of quorum. So if you're replying all back and forth to each other, that is considered a part of that. Just a reminder to not do that. If you have a question, you can ask me.

I will try to answer as best I can regarding any of those things. In addition, invalid actions and penalty, no action of a board shall be valid unless taken or made at a meeting held in accordance with the requirements of the OMA. It is the members of the board that are responsible for compliance, not the county as an entity. And any person violating the provisions of the Open Meetings Act is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500 for each offense. A little bit more on IPRA.

Every person has a right to inspect public records of the state except as specifically limited by law, so all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of public officers and employees. Public records means all documentation, papers, letters, books, maps, tapes, photographs, recordings, and other materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics that are used, created, received, maintained, or held by or on behalf of any public body and relate to public business, whether or not the records are required by law to be created and maintained. You can get more information online if you have any questions about this as board members via the New Mexico attorney general's office or our county attorney's office.

Alright. Great. Thank you, Ellen. The next thing we're going to is the tourism marketing report.

Okay. That is me and Ellen together. So this first can everybody hear me okay?

Yes.

Yes. Thank you.

Alright. So this is the New Mexico True reporting for fiscal year twenty four, which ended June 30. And we spend the majority of our tourism advertising with the New Mexico True program because it's a two for one match. So let's scroll down. Ellen, are you in charge of scrolling?

Yes, ma'am. Sorry. I'm also taking our minutes.

Alright. So let me just go down to we we spent whoop. Stop right there. Go up a little bit. $67,941 on this initiative, and, that gave us a total impressions of almost $5,000,000. And we'll just go down to, who our target audiences are. Whoop. You went too far. One right there. Yep.

So when you, work with the tourism department, they give you various options. So Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Denver were the two markets. We only got to pick two markets, and we're targeting young boomers and empty nesters, ages 59 to 64, followed by Gen Xers, 43 to 58, that like outdoor recreation and history, and then that want those unique visitor experiences. Okay. Now we can go down. Sorry, Ellen.

Okay. I

think we can keep going down to just show the the performance. And this is in everybody's packet, so you can look at it more in detail if you wanna see it. But we did 45% in print ads. That was New Mexico Magazine and the New Mexico True Adventure ad. Then we did search engine marketing, which is Google AdWords, Facebook video, Facebook static, YouTube, and sponsored content.

And on the sponsored content, it's delivered through the tourism department to people who fit our demographics that have an intent to travel to New Mexico. So the total spend was 115,000, but the tourism department reimburses 66.66% of that. So the county only pays the the remaining. So total impressions were 4,500,000. Total clicks were 58,047.

Next slide. And then on the digital marketing, we spent 3,000. And, again, we only pay for a third of that. Total digital impressions, 3,600,000. Total clicks, 57,000.

Overall cost per thousand was $17.47. Video views, we had one point almost 1,300,000, which went to our landing page on the website, 12,418 website sessions. Social media post engagement, 711,000, and click through rate of 1.59%. So everything performed above industry average. And this is just them analyzing it, which is very useful for us because we're getting ready to start the fiscal twenty six grant process.

The Facebook static actually, square that right there. It was by far the most efficient click driver, which is great to know. Facebook video had an extremely high video completion rate of almost 80%. Let's see what else here. The managed search, so this was a new initiative for us this year, which is great.

So these are Google AdWords, and and we came up with, I don't know, probably 30 different possible phrases so that when people are googling that, we show up as an ad. And then they click and end up on the website, so they spent two and a half minutes on the website with a very low bounce rate, which means so bounce rate, anything below 50% is considered good. So when you're googling something and you click and you're like, oh, I didn't mean to go there, and you bounce right off, that's the bounce rate. So the managed search campaign had 6,800 engaged sessions, and the highest engaged session rate was 67.65. The keyword Los Alamos saw the most clicks, and we figured that's also partly due to the Oppenheimer bump as I like to call it, which, you know, people after the movie were looking up Los Alamos.

Sponsored content also drove efficient impressions with the lowest cost per thousand of six dollars and ninety two cents, and this led to the second most efficient fifteen seconds time on-site click average at 1.3 a dollar 36 driving three thousand six hundred and seventy three fifteen second actions on that on that. Outdoor Rec was the top performer for the sponsored content driving 88% of all clicks. YouTube, which is also a really important one for us, YouTube is now the second largest search engine behind Google, and we had a 63% video completion rate. Industry average, just so you know, is about 45%, and that was 253% above their benchmark at 25%. So that led to YouTube having a more efficient click rate than the Facebook video.

Facebook static, Oppenheimer, not a surprise, was the most efficient. You know, we had we got all those Academy Awards in February, so a lot of buzz about about, Oppenheimer. National parks is another big one for us, and national parks and discoveries were kind of even on the sponsored content. Okay. Trends over time.

The most efficient month in terms of clicks was July, which also and that was right when the movie came out. So this is July '23. So that's not completely surprising to me because, again, we had the Oppenheimer buzz. I called the Oppenheimer bump really hit in July when the movie came out and then again in February when the Oscars came out. The the majority of the Facebook video went toward Denver, which drove the most engagement as a result.

And then Facebook's static was between Denver and then Albuquerque, Santa Fe, which is considered one market. And this this is what you can see what the ads look like. So, you know, people are googling just stop there for a second, Alan. If somebody was googling national parks, we would show up, and this is what it would look like. So you can so just depending on what the search words were, we had different photos and different messages that went with that.

And then these are the New Mexico Magazine ads.

Yeah. And we should note with these ads, there are requirements around what we can use for etcetera. So that's why you usually see about three to five short snippy quick words. So, like, this one on the left, it's really fine print here in the room, but it says home of invention. So you really kinda have to keep it within their limits and their brand requirements that they give to us.

Yeah. And then the two on the right, the explore more digital ads. And, again, we were all Oppenheimer coming into the beginning of the fiscal year '24. This was the advertorial that we had. It's a two page spread in New Mexico Magazine.

So the left side was the ad, the right side is the article. And then the New Mexico True Adventure Guide, this is the publication that the tourism department puts out. They do a a winter and a summer guide, and we have a full page ad in there plus the advertorial content, and that is also paid for as part of the grant, which is just a smoking good deal that we only have to pay one third of it. Another advertorial. Another print ad.

I love that little hide and seek. Another, full page ad that we had with them, best seat in the house, and then, the digital ads that go with that. So this was a big let me just stop there for a second. Go back up a second. This was a big breakthrough that we had.

Ellen, I'm trying to think if it was you. I think it was Dan and I went to war with the tourism department. So they were really against us promoting Oppenheimer in the beginning, because they felt like they didn't wanna have the tourism brand about a figure, and then there's some of the, you know, the downwinder story. And so we had a meeting with the tourism cabinet secretary, and we were like, look. Science is our culture in Los Alamos, and Oppenheimer is the biggest thing that's hit the state ever probably besides the balloon fiesta, and we need to capitalize on it. And he finally said yes. So that was a good battle that we won. So yay.

And I I will make a comment that with that, it really was great because this past fall, we got to do a photoshoot that involved having someone look like Oppenheimer, which was a first. And we really we really had to fight for that even though we got the green light. So I just wanna thank Joni for that. And I can make a note if you guys are interested who are on the board. If you'd like to see what those photos look like that we got out of that for this year, I'm happy to share that at the next meeting.

Yeah. So we did we did a two we did a two day photos well, let's say we did, yeah, two day photo shoot. One was hiking in the bias. The other was the Bradbury Science Museum. We really needed some better photos and then the the opi around town, which was cool. And then this was the sterling silver package that launched in June, and it's the Facebook video ads. And so we again, we have to use the New Mexico true ads that they produce for us. K. Is that every oh, there's still more. Then we have the sponsored content.

Yeah. There's a lot of different ads that we use as part of this, which you can see is a big part

of it. Sorry. Go ahead, Jody.

Content, what's so cool is it shows up where people are on the Internet and really appears almost like it's part of the editorial content and not so much an ad. You'll see the sponsored by Los Alamos, New Mexico, but so many people don't realize that. And then the managed search. Let me show that again. So, anyway, I would just recommend everybody spend some it's a long report.

It's 74 pages. I don't think we need to go through every single thing, but it's not 74 pages. It's only 45 pages, but there's a lot in there. And Ellen and I are reviewing everything. The February, the next phase of the process is we have an interview with the New Mexico Tru team to review this past year, look at our goals for fiscal year twenty six, and then they will make recommendations to us.

And once we have the budget, then we will apply for the grant. So, Shanna, that's one of the things we have to figure out is how much does the county wanna contribute to the initiatives going forward. And, I did talk to the cabinet secretary. They were going for that two for one match again, which is amazing. It'll be based on what happens in the legislative session. Assuming that legislature fully funds the tourism department, which I can't imagine that they're not going to, that 33% of what we pay will continue, which is really amazing.

And and how do we

have access to the whole report? Is that

If if you click on it's in in your agenda if you click on the link.

The executive summary, The seventy five zero five executive summary.

So this is all

The New Mexico True.

Oh. The one you have online gives you the whole thing. The one she sent out in the email has everything.

So so there's a updated version of this where there's a clear link to

the There's a link. It's the New Mexico True, report.

And one, note about these links that I think is an administrative note, I've noticed that over time, all of a sudden, when you click links in the county's agenda, they now require you to download a document before you can view it. I put in an inquiry with the public affairs, and they say the same thing annoys them, and they're looking into it or something. But any help we can get where if you click on these, it just should just open in a in a new tab or open up open for you, and that would be really helpful. It's real onerous to have to download every single document before you can see what's in a link.

Can't help you with that one, Kevin, Above my pay grade.

Right. Right. Hope hopefully, our county folks can can help with that. And, again, the I'm trying to remember her name. Julie, I sent a thing, and she said she thinks there's the same problem and is looking into it. So maybe you don't even have to do much other than

Yeah. I can mention it to Julie, and we can see if we can find a solution for sure.

But does anybody have any questions on New Mexico True? Just because we do have so many new members.

I do have a question, Dana Even. So I was going to go through all of this online. It's part of some project I'm working on at work this next week. And included in any of this, is there a a link that would take them to, like, our since what we're trying to do is create more local business, is there a link that takes them to our local business?

So we're so the advertising that we're doing takes them to the visitlosalamos.org website. So not in particular. And, typically, with the different campaigns, we may have a landing page to specifically talk about different things.

Yeah. Okay. On on the visit website, we do have the walk shop dine guide and things of that nature, but that's we haven't done any specific campaigning to push directly to business. We're usually pushing for people to come here as a whole and then trying to convince them to stay long enough that they do eat here and not just do an activity and go home.

It may be part of huge, but one of the issues if you if you follow that, which I kinda did some some secret shopping or whatever you might call it, but it's tough because when you go to the website, the link is to a PDF listing rather than to a directory of any kind. So it's a little tough, it looks like, to me for someone just coming to the website to get linked up to individual businesses very well.

So included in this, is there every link? Like, if we wanted to go and see all of this, I would assume that that one link you're talking about would kinda take us to all of our marketing.

Yes. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Then if you have any questions, feel free to reach out. It's a lot. The the biggest thing just to so, Kevin, you were around in the old days. In the old days, you used to submit your advertising. And when I'm saying the old days, I'm talking about, like, the nineteen nineties to the early two thousands. You know, you would you would come up with whatever you wanted to do.

You'd submit it to the tourism department, and they would reimburse you for 50%. In 2012, this campaign rolled out the New Mexico true campaign with the cabinet secretary then was Monique Jacobson and really looked to promote all the unique things there are to do in New Mexico that also involve our culture because that really is what distinguishes us from our neighbors to the North, our neighbors to the East, or to the West. So and then when the pandemic hit in 2020, and everybody remembers how everybody was in lockdown, the tourism department as we were coming out of the pandemic decided to change the match and make it a two for one to help the communities get back on their feet again. And then that has continued since 2021, which has been amazing. Because every year, I've been kind of like, when are they gonna go back to the 5050, the one to one?

But it it really helps small communities like ours to be able to have to spend, you know, such a small amount of money and have that much value is huge, and we couldn't get the type of advertising we were doing with the tourism department if we were to do it on our own. Because the tourism department's budget is 18,000,000, so we're riding on their discounted rates that they get that we wouldn't get with our budget.

Can I ask one more question?

Of course.

So one of the, biggest draws that we get are Texans. Do we have anything I do. I'm one. But do we have anything that really because you said that we focus on Denver, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, but do we have anything that kind of has that outreach to towards Texas tourism?

Yes. So this is what the the New Mexico true. We are only doing those markets. And then on our own, we do national PR, which goes out to every state. We also have our newsletter that goes out, and the newsletter emails come from people who've either gone to the visitor center and given us their email address, or they've opted in on the website.

And then we also reach Texas through our social media outreach. And then occasionally, we do newsletters with Texas monthly. Texas is an expensive market. We also the other thing that we do when we're speaking about Texas, and we love Texans, and Santa Fe, our neighbor to the Southeast, I guess, they have a very large visitor's guide that they have both online in the visitor centers at all the hotels, and we have a half page ad in there. And Texas is the largest visitor to Santa Fe. So I think that also stimulates a lot of interest. And we also have edit orial content in there encouraging people to come up to Los Alamos and check it out.

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for your questions.

Mhmm. Joni, one question I have is, do you anticipate that the NM True program is you know, other than not knowing exactly what the funding ratio is gonna be, but it's gonna be pretty much the same template as it was last year?

Yeah. Ellen and I will be meeting with them on the February to see if they're adding any new initiatives. So the search engine marketing was a new initiative, and the sponsored content was a new initiative in fiscal twenty four. So I imagine for fiscal twenty six, we will be getting some more new initiatives.

Is there any sense in talking to them oh, I'm sorry.

Is there

any sense in talking to them about objectives that aren't part of their kind of template or their cookie cutter, offering objective offerings? Like, if we have things that we're trying to focus on, that maybe don't exactly match up to their the categories they give you to choose from. Is there any opportunity to talk to them about how to have something that is as good a match as possible for what our objectives are?

So they have two different things that they fund. So so that menu that I was that we're talking about is called the MMP, which I don't even remember what the acronym is for, menu of media programs maybe. I think so. Standard. You can also apply for something that they call flex funding. So if there was something we wanted to do so let's say and, Ellen, maybe we put this in as our flex, you know, request this year. Let's say we wanted to do ads in Texas monthly and it's not in their format, we can apply for that. It's not a guarantee they're gonna accept it. But if they do, then it's that same two for one match.

So it sounds like there is some opportunity for conversation in presumably, these folks are whoever runs it is are real expert types who could can help you decide, okay. Here is what's a real fit for what you're trying to accomplish.

Yeah. And the biggest that that's part part of why we have the interviews with them. The the biggest issue is the the amount of the bucket, you know, they have. So last year, I think the bucket was a million dollars is what they had for the cooperative advertising program. And then it how many communities and events apply, and then they kinda dole it out.

So I think we got 90% of what we requested last year. So it's all you you know, those are the two unknowns at this point. What is the legislature gonna allocate for for the cooperative advertising program, and what's our competition? And then and I always you know, and Ellen and I will be working on this. I'm always like, let's go for everything but the kitchen sink, figuring they're not going to fund us a 100%, but let's go for it and see what happens. And sometimes we get lucky.

Yeah. And then Joni and I have the conversations like, do we have extra funding aside from what is allocated in her contract to take some of those extra programs that we've asked for since we shot for the moon. And then we kinda consider, you know, in situations where we can't afford everything, what do we feel is the most bang for our buck for what we're putting in. And then we and then based upon all of that is the secondary strategy that Joni and I have about what is not covered in New Mexico true that maybe we wanna do this year. So for example, the Texas monthly thing that we mentioned, that's an example of something like that.

Any other questions?

No. But thank you for all the information. I really appreciate it.

Yeah. Thank you, Jomi. Sure. It's a really comprehensive report. Alright. So next, we move on to the monthly report. Am I right? Nope. Our tax fund statement.

Yes. So I just I know Kevin asked for some of this information. Since we are at the end of the year, I wanted to share this with all of you for what our lodgers tax looked like in the previous, budget year. So, you know, you kinda ask for where are we spending our money and how are we spending our money. I don't know how in-depth you want me first off, let me zoom this in because anyone in the audience probably cannot see it.

So this was obviously kinda year end to see where some of this was at. So our fund balance at the beginning of the year, the annual budget that we look at is 335,000, about $880. So revenues, a lot of that is lodgers tax funding. There's a little bit of interest for a cash balance, it appears. Forgive me because I had a full packet, but then I passed it off.

So I'm reading the same giant one on the screen with you all. Our biggest things that our funding goes to, LACDC, that's the Discover Los Alamos part of our bridge. Our contractual services, as you see as a whole, that's $487,000. In addition, we also have funding that goes toward Joni with Griffin and Associates, the New Mexico tourism department, and then an auditing service as well. The big things that are kind of what we look for more kind of suggestions from you as a board on are related to some administration stuff, printing and bindings.

That's everything from your adventure guides to stickers to coupon books to brochures, everything in between, as well as supplies, which is usually for our visitor centers. So for example, I think it would would have been not this budget year, but the budget year before when we purchased the iPads that we could have so we could get data on people coming into the visitor centers, the stands that came with those. All of that goes toward that funding. This past year, we were able to purchase a bench that is in the White Rock Visitor Center and all the upgrades related to the visitor center. That's where that funding came from.

That's kind of the biggest kind of things there. There's a list about our encumbrances from the previous year, where those things are at. I don't know if you guys wanna go more in-depth or if you have any questions based upon what you're seeing kind of in front of you for this past year.

I don't I don't think any more detail needed or I don't have questions about this. I do have questions I think will be relevant when we're doing our work planning more about the bigger picture of the funding, for tourism activities. This this is a good thank you for sharing this that talks about the lodgers tax, revenue portion.

So can I ask another question? I had a guest come in the other day, and he was surprised that our lodger tax was only 5%. Is there a reason that we're set at 5%, and is there any way that we could increase that percentage? It's set by the state.

So now I believe that there that a higher rate is allowed, but it would have to be set to the state. I believe, Joni, sets a limit on how much it can be, but I believe we're not using the full limit if I'm I might be mistaken about that, but that's a great question.

So does anyone know what our actual limit is? Is it five percent, or is it more?

I'm googling it right now.

Mhmm.

And that's gross receipts tax. Keep talking amongst yourselves. I'm looking at I'm looking at their document.

Yeah. I was trying to do the same thing. Yeah. We can we can look at that and hopefully get an answer. If not by the end of this meeting, by the next meeting, if that's the highest amount allowed. I do know there are some things that they're trying to push on the tourism level to help increase things like this so we can get more usability of those funds.

And it's a great question, and it seems to me a great role for the Lodgers Tax Board to provide advice to county that says, look. Here's an option for increasing resources if we can tell them why that would be needed. And and if if such an option exists because they're the ones that would then have to decide, yeah, are we going to make that happen?

So what I'm seeing online is 5%. So it might be I don't know. Kevin, I'm gonna maybe you wanna reach out to DFA and and ask the question.

Yeah. I'll I'll take a look. It might be more appropriate from the county standpoint, but there are different classes of counties, I believe, that have different limits and things like that. And I'm I'm certainly no expert in it.

So Yeah. And what I'm seeing in line is that it's it's 5% of the gross taxable amount paid for lodging. I don't know that you can change that. So it's a good question, though. And that's been my understanding in all the communities that that I represent is that now the county might be able to charge another tax on top. Like, that 5% goes to the state and then comes back to the county. There might be another you know, I don't know what we would call it, but something else that that the county could charge.

Potential. And and to that end, Joni, I mean, when you look at that table, at least the table I found, it shows Albuquerque has the same 5% we have, and then there's also a hospitality fee act one. Roswell has a convention center financing. I mean, some of the counties in Los in New Mexico have added an additional fee.

I'm sure

that's required.

What what you guys could figure out is how do you do that. Yep. And that's a pass through to the guests, so that's always a good thing because it's it's it's not paid for by Los Alamos County residents.

Right.

So Albuquerque is a bunch larger market than we are. They have a lot more hotels. We have three. Is there a way that maybe we could kinda talk to them and see about increasing our percentage?

So So what Albuquerque did is they passed they they set up a an additional tax that all the businesses agreed to, and that's how they ended up doing it. But, Kevin, I'm assigning it to you. I think it would be great to talk to the Department of Finance Administration, DFA, and find out what the options are because they would know since they administer it for every county in the state.

Yep. I'll I'll look into it some and then try to maybe give Ellen and Shanna some think save you some footwork of, oh, here's maybe what to ask your finance people about or something who talk to those guys regular.

Connor, did you have a question? I know your hand was up.

I had just found the New Mexico lobbyers tax training packets that said 5% was the max that a municipality could impose. So I was just in the same spot as everybody else, it seems like.

Thanks for looking up that information. I was just jealous when they were getting 13%. So

Alright. So that is our tax fund statement. Our monthly reports are next. Mhmm.

Yeah. So the first one on there is the November 2024 monthly Discover Los Alamos report. Mel is representing us today at the tourism day at the legislature, so she is not here. So that is just in there for reference. If you'd like to read it on your own time to just kinda see what her numbers were like during November 2024.

I've had one question about it that maybe someone knows the answer. Does this report show trends in terms of visitor guide requests? I think Joni mentioned earlier that some of the mail lists are based on people who identify themselves as interested or request something for the visitor center. And, I see that I think it's tells in here, like, how many were requested, but is there any kind of trending? When I was talking to folks at the visitor center, they I got this impression that the numbers of requests have gone down considerably since the new website, replaced the old website, but it would be useful to see some kind of historical information about that.

So it currently does not include it includes this information, like, how many people from our distributor picked up boxes, that sort of thing. But it does not list any specifics about how many requests we're getting. Oh, here we go. Actually, it does. How many requests we're getting for the adventure guide.

I will say something I have seen on my end with some of the tourism groups I'm a part of online. There is most definitely a decrease a lot of people are seeing across the board with adventure guides. I'm I'm not sure we're thinking as a whole, I'll say that as a collective whole, of a lot of the DMOs that are on that group. There's quite a bit of commentary back and forth, but they believed that as a whole because of the generation of technology, fewer people are asking for those physical paper items to be sent via mail distribution.

So, yeah, that that's a good snapshot of November 24. It'll be great to see that presented. They do a great job of presenting a lot of things over time. Hopefully, that wouldn't be tough to show what's happened over time. And, again, my understanding from talking to him is that that that the decrease there was a sharp decrease concurrent with the new website or replacement website going in place. So

Yep. So I think we have the monthly report from Sunny five zero five is next.

And just for time, I think I'm gonna go through this pretty quickly.

Yeah. You said you had to be out of here in just a few.

Yeah. I have a I broke my back ten years ago, and I have to go to physical therapy. So that's pretty important.

It is.

Yeah. So, you know, social media has grown to 15,608, which is great. Our top content for December, January so far has been Bandolier and film locations in Los Alamos. Our PR, we put out scroll down just a tad, Ellen. Went out on winter recreation. Who's gonna be in charge of getting us some snow, please? So we so we did get an article on Pajarito, but, boy, we need snow.

Yeah.

Alright. And then the next one shows our PR. So you can see the articles that got placed, the news circulation, the ad value, which is if we had paid for that space, what would we what we would have paid. PR value is based on what the value of it is as a news story, which gets more eyeballs than an ad does. Okay.

And then there's a lot here in Datify. And so this is this is year over year. So this is calendar year '23 compared with calendar year '24 ending on December 28. It hasn't been updated to go all the way to the thirty first, so we're missing three days. And then you could see the trends. And, you know, we are slightly okay. Well, slightly down in some months. So 2023 is the red. 2024 is the blue. You can see in 2023, again, the Oppenheimer bump.

So which, again, was not surprising, and and it's kinda leveled off, but pretty consistent month over month, year over year. And then the states that bring in the most visitors to Los Alamos. So not surprising, New Mexico first followed by Texas and then Colorado. Yeah. And then this breaks down the cities, which is always interesting. So, again, as Ellen and I are meeting with the tourism department, you know, you can see where they're coming from. And everything's up, which is nice.

K. And I will mention, I know last month there was some questions about who can have access to our programs, etcetera. Just because the way the contact contracts are written with Los Alamos County, All of our different programs are set to only be utilized by ourselves or specifically our contractor. But if there is any other reports that you'd like that are not listed, please let me know. I'm happy to pull whatever data you might be interested in seeing, whether that's year over year at Pajarito to, you know, seeing how many people are visiting downtown, etcetera, during different periods, or even how many people might have been in town during the Oppenheimer festival that we had this year.

I think is that it in that report?

I I think it is. Okay.

Yes, ma'am.

I wanna

let

me me answer. Joni for responding to some requests of mine trying to understand better how, the the this data source and understand better the information. And there's a few things hope to continue to follow through on, with regard to that to to really get a get a handle and get arms around it. I'm glad to share that with anyone else is interested, but just understanding things like how like, what confidence level does the data vendor associate with this? Do they think, hey. This is 50% right or 90% right or 100 right? Things like that or I've asked some questions that are Yeah.

It makes it they can get 90. Here's one thing that's interesting. We we have, like, the base level program with Datify because we have a small budget. So for those of you that are new, the total budget that Sunny five zero five has is a $132,500. We pay 7,500 for the Datify package, and we got referred to it from the city of Santa Fe. And Santa Fe County is one of our clients. Santa Fe County bought a $50,000 package. That gets a you know, it has a lot more detail and a lot more than what we can afford to do. So it gives us some of the statistics, not everything, and it's not meant to be a physical, you know, head counter. It it tracks trends based on cell phone usage.

And it's helpful for us as we're looking to where we're gonna spend the tourism money, especially this one where we can see those top cities that we know it makes sense to advertise in Albuquerque. We know it makes sense to advertise in Denver, etcetera. So, you know, this is looking at year over year, and we can go back all the way back to 2018 and look at trends. So that's just helpful helpful to have some data, to help us make those decisions with a small budget.

Okay.

Great. Thanks, Joni.

Thank you. And I'm gonna pop off then. Ellen, would you give everybody my cell phone number and my email? And then if anybody has any questions or, you know, wants to talk to me further, I'm happy to.

Yep. Absolutely.

Thank you. Have a great rest of your day, everybody.

You too, Joni. Thanks. Thank you. Alright. So then it looks like we move on to our own work plan for f y twenty five. And so I think Ellen started filling this out for us, which is great. I'd like to just I know we're short on time. So it starts in February o with the calendar year 2025 work plan. If we can scroll down to that part, the rest you filled in just saying we didn't make quorum. We didn't make quorum type of stuff.

And right here. Alright. So this is where we're looking at doing our work for this year. Ellen filled in some of these things for us. I think this is where we have our discussion as to what we wanna see the board work on this year.

Yeah. And the other thing to note is just because there are, like, five or six for each of those, you don't need to fully fill those out. If you looked at last year's work plan, which was in in your minutes from last time because we discussed it then, We definitely did not fill out every single one of them. I think something to keep in mind is high level is not a bad thing for this. It does kinda give you room to expand and grow based upon, you know, what you determine within that year your findings are.

Okay. Kevin, you had something you wanted to share?

Yeah. The I took a a close look at this, and I had, like, some things that in the section 2.2, which is really the the lodgers tax side, not the things that the the staff has asked us to look at, that I wanted to propose, for that section.

Alright.

And if I don't know if it's the right time or if I need to make a motion or I can just share what the what those ideas are.

Share because that's part of our work for today.

So here, I'll I I printed out just so that it could instead of just waving arms and talking about it, it can be looked at.

Kevin, could you email that to me so I can take a look at it later today?

Yeah. Because us holding it up is not gonna help you, Connor.

No. My eyesight's not that good. No.

But I've been digging in on this just looking at the strategic plan. I've done some work I'll talk about a little later, just a questionnaire to try to get some input from business from business perspective, and brought to it certainly, experience that I have working in this realm for several decades in Los Alamos. And so I what I'm would propose are kind of five projects and activities under 2.2. Two of them are the very ones that Ellen, had indicated. Right.

I kinda dropped them lower because I think those are more, in my mind, tactical kinds of things that probably would get addressed and fall under the others. So the first three, one would be to really understand what we're working with here in terms of people, capabilities, resources, and funding, you know, a little more holistic. I think the lodgers tax report fund report is good, helpful, and it's a piece of it. But it seems to me there's a bigger bigger set of information to understand to know what we're really, working with, overall with tourism. Then I think really looking at this question from this strategic plan about increasing, economic benefits from tourism visitation to the to the county and community deserves a an action item.

And then the third one, really was I think it also one that Ellen already had on their engaging local businesses. And what I did was to take and just sketch out for each of those three those top three because it's hard to just look at that statement and say, well, what would we do? You know? What does that mean? And so I sketched out a possible approach for each of those first three just to give a sense of what's what might be involved or what one approach might be to how we would actually look to, address each of these items to get, just just for a sense.

And and to me, it might end up being some other approach to it, but I think these might help flesh out what's meant by those those top three.

So I guess I feel like Connor can't really I mean, she needs to have this email to her so that she can fully engage in in the conversation going on. But I think we also all need a little bit of time to read over and go through what Kevin has presented here. And I know we need to sort of wrap up the meeting at the same time. So what I would propose is that we all digest and go through this on our own. I know we can't email back and forth because that would consider be outside of our plan.

So I have two thoughts there that we either do an interim meeting in between before we get to the February meeting so that we can really hash out our work plan or that at the February meeting, we all scheduled to allow a little bit more time to really hash this out and have this be the the focus of that February meeting. I already brought up to Ellen that we need to probably publish in the agenda for the next meeting that we need to decide if we want me to stay as chair, we need to elect someone else's chair. So that's one thing that needs to happen at the February meeting. I am great with leaving, like, two hours or three hours for the February meeting and really hashing out and getting through into our work plan. I think some of these are great things to talk about, and I think we're really trying to look at being very proactive.

So I really want time to read through Kevin's, documentation and and think about it. So tell me how y'all wanna proceed.

I agree with that.

So maybe we make sure that we have a little bit longer meeting for that February meeting so that we can really come to grips with what all is here so that we could come up with a a very actionable work plan. Mhmm.

And I think the other thing to mention, I know Kevin got to speak, but if Connor, Dana, or Jen, if any of you also have suggestions for the work plan, I'd say either, you know, if you had a list, mention it now or make sure it gets emailed so these are things that everybody can think about before we meet the next time potentially? What are your thoughts, Jen?

Yeah. I think that's a really good idea. Just don't list it to everyone. Send it to Ellen so that she can put it in the agenda. It out. Yeah. And send it out as part of the agenda. I know one of the things I was wondering about is we started two years ago talking about an app for visitation, whether it's Bandwango or VisitWidget or that sort of thing. I think, especially given some of what we saw from Joni's report and the fact that we're not being asked for those visitors guides as much, the younger generation wants an app. They want something easier to come to rather than looking or having a paper something that they're gonna lose or have to find room for.

So I think that's something that's very important, and I saw that Kevin has that in here as well. So if you have a list, bullet point it, send it off to Ellen. Let's get it in the agenda packet, and let's really work through an actionable plan for our February meeting.

Go ahead. No. I I'm standing here because I, hoped that, on your agenda where you talk about other announcements that I might be able to jump in and talk a little bit about, your work plan. And, you know, so, take it with a grain of salt. But, you know, I was involved with the, tourism implementation plan as a liaison, I think, in 2022, you know, when I first started on council.

And and so I had a little bit of a background because, especially, we would have some meetings that were joint meetings with the law the lodgers tax advisory board. Right. And so I I'm a little familiar with some of the things that that you do and some of the previous conversations that were were developed or, you know, previous conversations that were had, in the past about, tourism and, increasing the amount of funding. And I'd just like to mention, and I I apologize I haven't read everything that, Kevin Holzapple just, provided. And, I haven't read your work plan.

But some of the things that based on just what I've heard from your meeting today is it sounds to me like you have a goal to try to increase funding for advertising, you know, because you're talking about seeing if there's a way to increase the amount of larger tax, that you receive, since we're at a 5% max right now.

Mhmm.

And so ways that you might be able to do that, and you'll just have to see if if this is something that you've already integrated into your plan, is, you know, do you have a strategy to increase visitation days to increase the lodger tax collected? Also, consider the occupancy rate and how to maximize, to increase that. So, like, for example, you know, you mentioned that, there is, typically about two point three days, which is the average length of a stay for, you know, somebody to visit Los Alamos, and, how could you possibly increase that, from two point three days to more. And, you know, one of the the things that I've heard, just, by living here for so long is that, you know, if you could study the days and times that the businesses and activities in the community are open compared to when the visitors are actually here, even including the transportation available such as busing in town, because I know we have some issues regarding, you know, people would like to have more weekend services, but we don't have that with the busing. And all those things may contribute to our success for tourism.

So, those those are just some some points that I wanted to make since I had this opportunity. And, hopefully, you can, see if if maybe you've included those types of ideas in your plan.

Thank you. Thank you. Hand. We appreciate that. Sorry.

I'm taking notes. Alright. So I think we have a plan forward for our February meeting. I think we all have, some work to do. So next meeting, future agenda items, I see as being some of what Kevin has presented, some of what counselor Hand has presented, and then really working on, like I said, an actionable work plan for 2025. Does anyone have anything else to add?

I I had I don't know if this is new business, but I had one new business item when we get there.

No. Go ahead.

The second thing I that that actually informed the work I was doing that I thought could be valuable to share was I kind of was searched out, and I met with Lauren McDaniel, LACDC. She gave me some perspective on the past tourism work group or something and

Right.

And other things, but couldn't really put our hands on anything that really gave much of a sense of local business perspective into what's going on with tourism. And so I put together and was careful to not say it was an LTAP initiative, but I put together a questionnaire and circulated it with the help of the chamber of commerce, the local business coalition, the newspapers. And I wanna share with everybody, not necessarily we don't have to spend time on it, but share the results that came back from that.

Thank you, Kevin.

I think you can and I'll send it to you, Connor, as well. I think you can read, like the the key takeaways are just my impressions from looking at it, but I've also given you kind of a complete rundown of what people have to say, what their the analysis of kind of priorities and things like that and other questions as well as the comments that were received. But I think the takeaways you may or may not agree with, and you may have different takeaways, which is fine. But I'm also glad to spend any other time on in this. You know, I called a questionnaire.

I don't really. Some people have said, oh, you're you're surveying me. Well, now a questionnaire in my mind is a little lighter touch, but it's really intended to try to engage. And one of the positive things was I had a good number of businesses say, yeah. We'd like to be more involved.

We'd like to have more, engagement in what's going on. And so that you'll actually see in the other the the prior document I gave you is some suggestions about ways to do that within all the rules and and and that we we might do because I think there could be a lot gained. One of the key things that comes to me looking at all of this is getting more economic benefit out of the tourism that we have is gotta be a key goal, and that's in the the the strategic plan. It's a key element of the strategic plan. But as far as I can tell, we don't even know how much we're getting out of what We're doing.

It now. And so that you'll see some of the stuff in what I'm proposing in the work plan is to is to remedy that. Start finding out what is it that we're getting so that we can tell whether we're making a difference with any of the marketing stuff, for instance, that Joni was presenting. Is that moving the needle in any way in terms of making improvement on that? And I think the more that businesses are engaged in in the effort to do that, the more likely it is we'll ever move the needle because they're the they're the place where a dollar gets spent, and and there's the opportunity to to make progress.

Thank you, Kevin. I agree. So I think what he just go ahead, Jay.

Quick comment, on that. I've spoken with multiple business people in town and invited them to our meetings and asked them to come. And, one of the things that we have spoken about is having a business meeting where, you know, biz people from the local area can come in and, kinda have more information. But, again, it's it's funny to me because, you know, they say something like, when I first moved here, they said, well, you know, there are certain entities that don't want more tourism. And then I got on the, you know, on this, and and I went back and I said, look.

There are. There is a lot of work that's being done. And to find out more information about that, come to the meetings. Nobody's ever come to one. So I would love to find a way that, you know, I was just speaking with, Shanna earlier about creating some kind of a flyer.

I'll walk indoors. I have no problem doing that. And, you know, speaking to the area businesses to try and get them to have a better investment in what we're doing, and then also to just let them know that they're not out there alone, that we are working hard to try and create a better tourism atmosphere here. So just a little piece of input from me.

Thanks, Dana. I appreciate that. And I also think, Ellen and Jenna also I think it was in November y'all did the tourism thing. I'm really hoping that we can do some of those meetings a bit more so that we all know what everybody else is doing and and moving forward and all working together to make this a little bit more robust and and attract more visitors here. So with these things, I think, like I said, I do feel like all these things will inform our work plan, and we have a plan moving forward.

So what I would do is ask again that you send anything you want on next month's agenda to Ellen so that she can get it on there and and that we really look at maybe having a little bit longer than normal at next month's meeting so that we can really come up with an actionable work plan and start moving forward from there. And if that all sounds good, then I'm gonna ask that we go ahead and adjourn. Go ahead, Dana.

It does. I have one more thing

Yeah.

To say, and that is that it's not just about attracting more tourism. It's about attracting more business.

That's true too.

See that we are a viable market. And if they come up here, they will have, you know, the business that they're looking for. So that's the only

thing No. That's very true. That's very true. I mean, when Starbucks first was gonna open up here, they said we can't make the money, and I think we're a very Starbucks now has multiple locations. They certainly know that we have the money to spend. So we're a unique community in a lot of ways, and we need to

let businesses know that. Indeed. I would like to make a motion to close the meeting.

Alright. And I will second that. So everyone in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Alright. Great. Then I look forward to seeing you all next month, and have a great day.