Elk City Approves CVB Tourism Budget

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June 21, 2016

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph

Next year’s promotion for the community of Elk City will be down about 20 percent according to city and convention and visitor bureau leaders.

Julie Lenius, Elk City’s first year CVB director has gone through her first budgeting process and walked away with what she believes is a good budget, even though it reflects a lower budget because the motel/hotel revenue is down.

Her budget through the city is based on the income generated by the number of people staying in the motels inside the city limit and with the oil market down, fewer people are staying in motels in Western Oklahoma, city officials say.

Lenius was tapped in early July of last year as the new director after the CVB went almost a year without one.

She says her budget that was approved at the most recent meeting of the Elk City Commission reflects a down economy.

In years past, the CVB budget has been as high as about a half-a-million-dollars.

Her budget is down about 20 percent from last year even though the motel/hotel tax – sometimes referred to as transient guest taxes – is down almost 50% from where it has been.

Before coming to the CVB, Lenius was a home loan officer at Great Plains National Bank for about a year after working as a legal secretary before that for a couple years. So, this financial process of working with a CVB board and the city was all done in a very public arena.

Though the revenue is down, Lenius has a lot of great ideas for the upcoming year. She says she wants the CVB to become more involved with digital marketing.

The Elk City Convention and Visitors Bureau budget this year is a little under $408-thousand dollars for fiscal year 2016-17.

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