Council Votes to Use the Bed Tax as Contingency for Bisbee Bikeways Project, if Needed. Bisbee Forward Does Not Re-Submit Bid for DMO.

We want to be clear: Bisbee Forward supports the Bisbee Bikeways project. We believe in what Meggen and her team have built, and we want to see that path get built. This is not an us-versus-them conversation.

But last Tuesday night's council vote to authorize $100k in bed tax reserves as a contingency fund for the Lavender Pit East segment is a problem. Not because we oppose the project, but because that money is nearly half of Bisbee's entire destination marketing budget. And we're all experiencing what happens when this city underfunds its marketing.

The bed tax exists to fill hotel rooms.

In 2020, Bisbee voters approved a ballot measure raising the bed tax specifically to fund the promotion of overnight visitation. The language wasn't vague — at least half of bed tax revenues were to be spent on marketing. Over the past three budget years, less than 28% has gone to advertising. There has been effectively no destination marketing for the better part of a year. We are all feeling that.

This year's budget allocates $130,000 total between advertising and contract services. The $100,000 sitting in capital improvements isn't a surplus. It's the difference between a marketing program that can actually move the needle and one that can't.

We are already the most expensive overnight destination in Cochise County.

Bisbee's total transient lodging tax rate is 14.55% — the highest in Cochise County, and higher than nearly every comparable Arizona destination a traveler might consider instead.

Tombstone, our closest competitor for the history-and-character tourist, comes in at 13.55%. Sedona, one of the most visited destinations in the entire state, with a tourism infrastructure that Bisbee can only dream about right now, charges between 13.325% and 13.9% depending on which side of the county line the property sits on. Let that sink in for a moment. A traveler booking a room in Bisbee is paying a higher tax rate than they would in Sedona. We are not operating on a level playing field. We are asking visitors to pay more to choose us.

That reality makes the argument for aggressive, well-funded destination marketing not just reasonable, but urgent. If we're going to ask guests to absorb a premium tax rate, we had better be giving them compelling reasons to choose Bisbee in the first place. That means marketing. That means storytelling. That means putting our bed tax dollars to work doing exactly what voters intended them to do.

The DMO Saga: Where Things Stand and Why It Still Matters.

Last year, Bisbee Forward organized itself and went to the city with data showing how bed tax marketing dollars were being mismanaged. The mayor agreed, and then asked us to become the DMO. Council voted yes. Then the mayor rescinded the offer. A poorly written RFP was issued that conflated a DMO with a marketing agency. Bisbee Forward submitted a proposal for the DMO, the only nonprofit to do so, and therefore the only entity legally eligible to serve as a DMO. We even offered to do the work for free.

But the city selected a for-profit marketing agency from Scottsdale that had never visited Bisbee, at $4,000 a month, with all actual marketing services billed on top. The city attorney advised council that the decision could not be protested. But we did, and the contract was rescinded.

A new RFP was recently issued that allows for a marketing agency OR a non-profit DMO. At this point, it is clear to us that the city no longer wants Bisbee Forward to serve as the DMO. Though they have not been explicit, they seem to want to retain the DMO designation and work with a for-profit marketing agency. So this time around, we did not bother applying for the DMO position. We have made our case, proven our point, and watched this process consume the better part of a year while Bisbee went without destination marketing. We are done running a race where the finish line keeps moving.

What we are still intent to do is hold this process accountable. Interim city manager, Ashlee Coronado, has indicated that since Bisbee Forward is not submitting a proposal, she would welcome us on the committee to evaluate agency proposals. Our hope is that lodging owners are better represented this go around. There is no one better positioned to ask the hard questions about strategy, accountability, and return on investment than the people whose livelihoods depend on the answers.

Which brings us back to the $100k. To the bikeways project, this money is less than 10% of the total funding. But to Bisbee's marketing budget, it is nearly half. Without this money, the marketing agency that will soon be chosen, won't have the necessary funding to be effective.

The bikeways will attract visitors. Marketing will make sure visitors know to come.

The shared-use path and destination marketing are not competing strategies, they're complementary ones. The path creates something worth coming to Bisbee for. Marketing makes sure people know it exists. A beautiful trail that nobody hears about doesn't bring visitors into town.

Meggen acknowledged last Tuesday that this proposal has created unnecessary division and offered to convene a work session with Bisbee Forward before the July 10 bid results come in. We're open to that. We also raised the question of whether Tuesday's 4–2 vote met the supermajority threshold the city charter requires to divert special revenue funds. As it turns out, it didn't. The Bisbee Observer reported this week that Interim City Manager Ashlee Coronado confirmed, after conferring with City Attorney Joe Estes, that the resolution will be rescinded. A 5/7 council vote is required, and the votes weren't there. The $100k will remain in capital improvements for now, with the item returning to council once the vacant seat is filled. But we want to be clear: even if the votes are there, we believe the move is still illegal. Bed tax funds exist to promote overnight visitation. Using them for capital construction, regardless of how worthy the project, is not what voters intended when they approved the bed tax.

The city has spent a year failing to market Bisbee. We chose not to re-enter the DMO fight and instead pursue a seat on the selection committee, because a voice in how marketing dollars are spent is all we have ever wanted. Accountability is all we have ever asked for. That hasn't changed.

We support the bikeways. We support Bisbee. And we believe the best way to support both is to make sure the marketing dollars meant to drive tourism are actually used to drive tourism.