The Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission held its regular monthly meeting at 2 p.m. Monday inside the Town Center on the downtown square.
Below is a roundup of highlights from the group’s meeting for December 2011.
Roll Call
Present: Director Marilyn Heifner, Lioneld Jordan, Brandon Karn, Bill Lyle, commission chair Maudie Schmitt, Justin Tennant
Absent: Bob Davis, Hannah Mills
Monthly HMR collections down
Following the largest month in HMR tax history, collections were down $11,184 (-4.67 percent) from the same month last year. Total collections reported in November 2011 were $203,529.
Overall 2011 collections are now at $2,097,446 which is a 4.32 percent increase on the year.
Below is a graph and table representing four years of HMR tax collections in Fayetteville.
Overdue HMR tax collections
According to City Attorney Kit Williams, the number of cases of overdue HMR taxes being prosecuted jumped from 14 in September to 23 in October. However, it appears that nine of those cases have a zero balance due and six were closed completely. This puts the city back to 14 cases in which overdue HMR taxes have not been fully paid.
Williams said the City Prosecutor collected a total of $5,153.33 in overdue HMR taxes in October. This brings the total year-to-day collection of overdue HMR taxes to $34,289.67.
Visitors Center sales still up
While sales were not up as drastically as last month, the numbers still indicate continued growth at the Visitors Center.
Total sales for November were $4,797.54, a 93 percent increase over November 2010.
Visits to the center were also up for the month with 1,103 total visitors, a 35 percent increase over the same month last year.
Old post office building
The commission unanimously agreed to seek a lease-to-own agreement with the owner of the old post office building in the middle of the downtown Square.
By leasing the building, A&P director Marilyn Heifner said the commission can solve two problems Fayetteville currently faces – the need for temporary meeting space and the lack of a home for the Fayetteville Underground artists. Heifner said if the commission decides to buy the building after a year, the space could be used for a Fayetteville history museum.
Here’s the full story on the old post office building.
Other business
In other business, the commission signed off on the Town Center budget and agreed on a 5 percent salary increase for director Marilyn Heifner.
Full agenda packet