Baton Rouge’s tourism promotion agency, which relies primarily on taxes from local hotel and motel stays for the bulk of its operating budget, saw its revenues from the hotel tax rise 14% in 2014 to more than $4.5 million, up from roughly $3.98 million in 2013.
According to a newly-released audit of Visit Baton Rouge’s finances for 2014, the $4,541,264 it netted from the hotel tax represented 98% of its total revenue of $4,645,654 for the year. The remaining income came from interest and “miscellaneous income,” says the audit by Baton Rouge-based Postlethwaite & Netterville. Visit Baton Rouge also received another $90,000 from the BP oil spill settlement.
With expenses last year at $4,566,553, Visit Baton Rouge increased its net financial position by $79,101. The agency had a general fund balance of nearly $2.5 million heading into 2014, which it increased to $2,799,856 at the end of last year.
The bulk of Visit Baton Rouge’s spending goes toward payroll and advertising. Last year, the agency spent a total of $1,666,417 on salaries, commissions, payroll taxes and benefits; and another $1,861,117 on advertising, promotions, trade shows and familiarization tours of the Baton Rouge area, according to the audit. Another $636,019 in spending is listed as “general and administrative,” while the agency also dished out $308,000 in BP spill grant expenses and contributed $95,000 to the Baton Rouge Area Sports Foundation.
As for Visit Baton Rouge CEO Paul Arrigo, the audit shows he earned a base salary of $171,917 last year, plus insurance benefits worth $32,306, deferred compensation of $17,192, a car allowance of $12,946 and a cell phone allowance of $1,833. When paired with another $6,996 listed as “benefits-other” and $7,055 listed as “dues,” Arrigo’s total compensation package eclipsed $250,000 last year.
Visit Baton Rouge benefits from a 75% cut of the 4% city-parish tax levied on local hotel and motel stays. As previously reported, hotel occupancy in Baton Rouge increased nearly 7% in 2014 over the previous year, thanks to several major events held here last summer. Total room nights for the year topped 104,000, while some 337 conventions and groups held meetings in Baton Rouge, according to Visit Baton Rouge’s Annual Report released in February.
In 2014, the events that helped bring tourism and visitors to the Capital Region included Bayou Country Superfest—which was expanded from two to three days—the Miss USA pageant and the 2014 U.S. Youth Soccer Region III Championship tournament.
“Last year will go down as one of the best for Baton Rouge tourism,” Arrigo said when the report was released.
See the complete audit of Visit Baton Rouge’s finances last year.
—Steve Sanoski
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