The Buncombe County Tourist Development Authority on Wednesday approved its operating budget for fiscal year 2025. Planned expenditures are down slightly from the previous year while revenue growth is projected to remain flat.
The $27.3 million budget was approved unanimously, with most of it going to promote Asheville and the surrounding area as a tourist destination. The TDA’s operating budget for the previous fiscal year was $27.5 million. The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.
The TDA is a quasi-governmental agency that oversees the collection and use of lodging taxes paid on lodging such as hotels and short-term vacation rentals. The lodging tax rate in Buncombe County is 6%.
The TDA’s activities range from attracting tourists to Asheville and Buncombe County, bringing conferences and other events to the area and funding local projects that spur economic development in the county. In recent years, advocates have called for affordable housing to be included in its efforts, but so far the Buncombe TDA has refused to do so.
By law, the TDA’s operating budget is equal to two-thirds of the total hotel tax revenue collected each year. The remaining one-third is earmarked for “tourism-related expenditures,” such as community capital projects. The TDA projects net hotel tax revenue of $34.3 million for fiscal year 2025.
No members of the public made any comments during a public comment period on Wednesday just before the vote.
Of the $27.3 million, the largest portion, about $19.5 million, will go to marketing, followed by $4.4 million for salaries and benefits, $1.7 million for business development, $1 million for administration and facilities, and $700,000 for partnerships and destination management.
TDA plans to increase spending slightly this fiscal year compared to last year in two categories: salaries and benefits and partnerships and destination management, and will see a slight decrease in spending in two categories: marketing and business development.
According to a presentation at last month’s TDA conference, the increase in salary and benefits expenses is due in part to market adjustments, salary increases, hiring additional business development team members and an increase in employer-paid premiums for employee benefits from 80% to 100%.
The TDA is also committing just over $900,000 to administer two tourism-related project funds, the Legacy Investment from Tourism Fund (LIFT) and the Tourism Product Development Fund (TPDF), an amount roughly the same as last year.
