Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 • Epilogue
By [Concerned Sedona Resident]
(April 27, 2015)
The Chamber of Commerce has made no official effort to refute or counter the facts presented here, perhaps because they ARE facts and are not refutable. The Chamber has not responded to the analysis of these facts either, perhaps because they believe they control the City Council and there is no need to bother. That approach will continue until Sedona residents rise up and finally say enough is enough.
We have provided you with researched and documented information on the activities and impacts of selling Sedona to the tourism world. Whether any change comes of it is up to you, the community. We have purposely omitted our identity in a conscious effort to put the focus to the issues rather than on attacking the authors as at least one vocal Chamber leader is prone to do. For some that has been just fine, for others, not so much.
Our research and facts speak for themselves. Those who may doubt us can look up the same sources we did and rediscover the same facts for themselves. Some may also read the same facts and draw different conclusions. That is always a possibility.
Perhaps not enough people care or care enough to pursue the information presented here. Perhaps some do not think this has any bearing on their daily lives. But, if you have a street that needs repair, a sidewalk that needs built, drainage that needs fixed or a city facility you use that is not up to par, you ARE impacted by this expenditure of over a million dollars of public tax money each year. If you are tired of the traffic, dismayed by the degrading of our local trailheads and trails, dislike the loss of access to local facilities and lament the decline of our small town character you ARE part of this issue.
Given time, the issue may resolve itself, but not in a good way. Word of mouth brings over 75% of the tourists to Sedona and word of mouth will also send them away. When visitors tell others about the congestion, crowding, degradation and tourism grubbiness that Sedona is becoming, no amount of expensive advertising will bring them back. Reports from both visitor’s centers are showing increasing numbers of tourists saying essentially, “This is not the Sedona that was advertised.” “This is not a place of relaxation, serenity and spirituality I was lead to believe it was.”
Sedona has clearly reached beyond the sustainable level of tourism our city and surrounding area can accommodate. Whether those who see only profit and maximal exploitation in Sedona will wake up to that fact before the golden goose is irreparably cooked is the question.
We have begun what we believe is an important community discussion. Now, who will step up and who will lead?
We thank Sedona.biz and owner Steve DeVol for having the courage to publish our research and .biz readers for their willingness to discuss, question and comment.
“To make a difference you don’t have to be rich, brilliant, beautiful or powerful. You just have to care and be there.”
(Over) Selling Sedona: Decision Points
How Do They Measure Up? Part 1 • Part 2
The Fallacy of Transit
Simple Solutions
Selling Sedona – One Year Later: Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3
Selling Sedona, 2015: Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 • Epilogue
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35 Comments
Excellent summery. Some of the recent elected council members campaigned on the traffic congestion problem – and at the same time hand millions to the chamber.
People…we only have two roads. Any wonder why the base population has not grown in the last 14 years?
Amazing.
By [Concerned Sedona Resident]
Said:
“The Chamber of Commerce has made no official effort to refute or counter the facts presented here, perhaps because they ARE facts and are not refutable.”
Opinion: Selling Sedona this is one persons Opinion, and not backed by any facts,
or a real Name ,
Steve DeVol understands the difference between News and Opinion ,
SteveSegner
Comments were made about the City’s bond debt in an earlier Part of this amazing series.
The Arizona Department of Revenue issued its “FY 2013/14 Report of Bonded Indebtedness” last December. Sedona’s per capita bond debt of $4,649.62 is the 7th highest of Arizona’s 91 cities. The average per capita debt for cities and towns with outstanding bond debt is $1,765.98.
But is $42.2 Million in bond debt enough for City Hall? Bond refinancing and MORE DEBT are on the 9:00 a.m., April 30, 2015 City Council Meeting Agenda.
Two of the three scenarios are interest-only type refi’s so as to obtain lower rates on: (1) the City’s Series 2005 Bonds, $10.29 Million, WW Fund or (2) the Series 2005 Bonds as well as the callable portion of the City’s Series 2007 Bonds, WW Fund and General Fund. No increase in the Principal amounts due and owing, and no extension of maturities, are involved.
The third scenario concerns $10.3 Million in NEW BOND DEBT, as well as refinancing both bond series mentioned here and extending their maturity dates from 2027 to 2031. According to the Finance Director, “The ongoing debt service would be paid from the additional sales tax revenues allocated from the General Fund, as the sales tax subsidy for Wastewater is reduced.” Does anyone remember a prior Council telling citizens the additional funds resulting from the reduced sales tax allocations from the General Fund to the Wastewater Fund would be utilized for non-sewer capital infrastructure projects?
The Workshops on the PROPOSED BUDGET FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016 begin tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Estimated Budgeted Expenditures have gone up by 11%–from $38,385,154 this year to $42,456,470 next year. Why not? The budget proposal indicates $30,679,511 as its anticipated FY 2015-2016 Collections.
@jean jenks, steve segner, and Concerned Sedona Resident:
First Quarter 2015 U.S. GDP rose by an appalling 0.2%, far, far below the consensus Wall Street estimate thus evidencing absolute U.S. economic stagnation. But even that tiny upside was the result of deliberately misleading reporting since it was actually the result of the biggest “inventory build” in U.S. commercial history. In other words, IF U.S. inventory purchases, already at record high levels, and in light of the fact that the inventory to sales ratio is rising to great financial crisis levels, had not grown by a paltry $121.9 billion and merely remained flat, U.S. Q1 GDP would not be 0.2%, but would be -2.6%. Yet, in the face of complete economic stagnation, and notwithstanding the fact that two recent Sedona Chamber surveys show that the length of stay for tourists in Sedona has declined 20 percent in less than a year (as so deftly pointed out by Concerned Sedona Resident), our City government would consider increasing our already astounding debt load another $10.3 Million in NEW BOND DEBT based on dubious Chamber influenced assumptions in their fiscal 2016 revenue forecasts. This I say, reflective of the cold hard fact which you have so well researched Jean, that “Sedona’s per capita bond debt of $4,649.62 is the 7th highest of Arizona’s 91 cities while the average per capita debt for AZ cities and towns with outstanding bond debt is $1,765.98.” Have we lost our collective mind? Or, is it that our City Council is nothing but a subordinate functionary of both its own staff and, worse yet, the Chamber of Commerce who always seems to have the ear of staff? Euphemistically speaking, the Chamber is leading Sedona over the edge of a cliff from atop Wilson Mountain where the last major Sedona fire occurred!
JEAN LIKES TO USE NUMBERS TO SCARE PEOPLE. OK HERE ARE THE NUMBERS AND SEDONA LOOKS GOOD… AND WE HAVE A BETTER SALES BASE THEN THE TOP 5

PER CAPITA BOND DEBT
WE ARE IN GOOD COMPANY
PER CAPITA TOTAL DEBT

1. Cave Creek $10,145
2 WILLAMS $6,952
3. TOLLESON $6,607
4, QUEEN CREEK $5,765
5. LAKE HAVASU $5,385
6. SCOTTSDALE $5,379
7, SEDONA $4,649 ONLY $618.00 MORE THEN COTTON WOOD!
8. PHOENIX $4,392
9. COTTONWOOD $4,031
10.GLENDALE $4120
LOOKS LIKE SEDONA COULD TAKE ON SOME DEBT AND DO SOME FIXING UP
IT LOOKS LIKE SIX OTHER CITIES THINK IT IS OK TO HAVE A LITTLE DEBT.
Sedona just came out of the longest recession since the 1930 and with a surplus!
Sales and Bed tax are both way up and interest rates are at historic lows….
We know that any construction Sedona need to do will cost more in the future so now is the time to jump on it borrow the money and get it fixed,
STEVE SEGNER
Jean,The sky is not falling”
Per capita does not hold water in Sedona, the fact we are not a bedroom community and have an extremely high percentage of high-end commercial properties that contribute significantly more than residents yet are not counted in a per capita analysis.
Bed tax for February was at $211,096, up from $152,660 in February 2014.
In January, the city collected $125,415. The performance of the bed tax has done well enough for the city to increase its projected increase to 9 percent over budget at the year-end. This is still not as high as the year-do-date average over budget of 18 percent and this is from the SLOW months.
For all funds combined, the city spent roughly 48 percent of its funds, and projects that by fiscal year’s end to have spent 80.3 percent of its funds compared to the budget. The total balance as of the end of February in the city’s coffers is $41.5 million.
steve segner
Tell your B.S. to someone else, Steve.
Jean, Jean please just look at the numbers. you like number, I know you do and the numbers are great…
Please just show us all how they are wrong.
(Tell your B.S. to someone else, Steve.) NOT A GOOD ANSWER.
“This is still not as high as the year-do-date average over budget of 18 percent and this is from the SLOW months.”
This is a good thing, city income way way up and Jean your are upset?
STEVE
@Steve Segner
You commented to Jean Jenks “This is a good thing, city income way way up and Jean your are [sic…you’re] upset?” As usual Steve, your tactic is to obfuscate and direct reader and public attention away from a convoluted argument which is that City of Sedona funds spent to enhance the tourism industry is a better option for Sedona than providing the services to our citizens as detailed below. It is wholly irrelevant that income is up when City expenditures are skyrocketing, debt is about to do the same, and public funds are being misappropriated away from the betterment of quality of life in our beautiful town. And, this whole scenario is exacerbated exponentially every time the Chamber asks for more money for a marketing plan, that has been a virtual disaster, without ever having produced an authentic cost to benefit analysis.
You said in a previous post, “Don’t blame the lodging industry.” I MOST CERTAINLY DO BLAME YOUR LODGING INDUSTRY AND OUR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE for bringing the wrong type of tourists here, for the choking traffic congestion caused by two-hour day trippers, for the misappropriation of public money that should first have gone to street repairs, storm drain improvement, better traffic control, better parking facilities, better community planning that would have brought non-tourist related clean intellectual tax paying industry here, development of incubator parks such as Flagstaff did, city and industry private income-producing partnerships such as the City of Palm Desert has done, completion of the Red Rock Loop across the river to relieve the traffic congestion your local industry has helped cause, and the development of City entertainment venues like the old Cultural Part Amphitheater and even to the development of a workable City transitional zoning plan. In fact I could continue this list of missed City opportunities for pages more that were occasioned by the failed marketing and taxation plan advocated by the lodging industry and Chamber of Commerce here.
Most importantly of all, though, is that Sedona is one of a handful of small resort towns that doesn’t put the Destination Marketing contract out to public bid as an RFP. Your local lodging industry, working in tandem with the Sedona Chamber of Commerce, has thwarted the RFP process (which would put an end to the use of Sedona public funds to finance marketing for resorts tourism supported businesses NOT inside our town limits) since this current recession began in 2008. You have done this through the efforts of certain City Councilors loyal to you and the Chamber and through the support some long-time staffers friendly to you and even a Mayor here or there. BTW, I’ve always wondered about how these key year-after-year loyalties are sustained? Does anyone else in Sedona ever wonder about that other than Concerned Sedona Resident?
Meanwhile, I have talked to the top DMO firm in the country who has over 1,000 small resort town clients, namely Roger Brooks International, and they have sent me their list of absolute requirements to have a successful destination market for the type of town that would make us all happy. When you read that list of requirements followed by his 1,000+ successful resort town clients, you’ll quickly see that our DMO efforts are sorely lacking and misdirected, not to mention, heinously overpriced. And, never forget… our Chamber of Commerce only has one lone little client but is paid as if it were Roger Brooks International whose clients have stolen God-only-knows how much of the long-stay Destination Traveler market from Sedona (the part of the market that spends big dollars, stays here more than two days and doesn’t cause choking traffic congestion). If you who are reading this comment and want to find out what I am referring to, in detail, go to these links:
rogerbrooksinternational.com, and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Brooks
I’m with Jean, Steve….cut the [you know what] please.
Could not agree with you more J Rick!
@Sheri,
Especially coming from you, Sheri, I really do appreciate your comment.
“The ongoing debt service would be paid from the additional sales tax revenues allocated from the General Fund, as the sales tax subsidy for Wastewater is reduced.”
This is truly a sick strategy. Make a small group of residents (and non-residents) who happen to own properties where the City decided to put the sewer, pay increasingly large “fees” (tax) so that the City can shift funds to other “priorities” (more debt). Why isn’t the bed tax being used to fund the wastewater system instead of paying for “destination marketing”? I mean seriously folks, how long are the residents of this city going to stand for this?
Hotels pay huge sewer fees for their guests, why should hotel guest pay for your sewers?
The visitors already pick up 60%+ of the running of Sedona.
And the state of Arizona say Bed tax must go to visitor support.
45% of bed tax now goes to the general fund.
Perhaps we should all pay a small city tax… that way we all pay… not just the visitors.
Steve
@Tyler Barrett – You are Spot on!!! City shifts funds at the drop of the hat (or their whim) from one account to another and then they all sit back and smile because they balanced “something” they call a budget.
Isn’t the biggest debt of Sedona the Wastewater System? So why are they/we not just driven to pay that debt off ASAP instead of dropping over $1.million to the Regional Chamber?
Call me crazy but when I have debt – I look at my budget and find the ways to save monies in order to use those monies to pay off my debt.
Oddly I don’t go out looking for some expenditures to make me feel “happy”, on any given day, unlike our Council. Nope! I pay my bills before I find and then spend my funny money….if I’m lucky enough to have some. Funny Money means my left over money after all my bills have been paid —- rather than racking up debt for my feel goods. .
“The Chamber of Commerce has made no official effort to refute or counter the facts presented here, perhaps because they ARE facts and are not refutable. The Chamber has not responded to the analysis of these facts either, perhaps because they believe they control the City Council and there is no need to bother.”
Or perhaps Mr. Segner is Jennifer Wesselhoff”s attack dog…just saying, if it looks like a duck…
How can the chamber respond to one persons un named Opinion?
If it was perhaps the Redrock news or the Phoenix papers I would agree,
but they are news papers, not an Opinion section of the local blog.
New papers have fact checkers , and reporters have names.
Example of why this in not news,
By [Concerned Sedona Resident]
(April 20, 2015) Said
The Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau is a 501 (c) (6) tax exempt organization under IRS rules.
The Sedona Chamber is not tax exempt.
A small fact, that makes “Concerned Sedona Resident” post “Wrong” and makes her hole argument a long rambling joke..
Mr. Segner seems to be saying high levels of per capita debt do not matter. This is due to a) we can always squeeze the tourist sales base b) lots of other cities are dancing the debt zombie dance. Lots of debt and not much to show for it. This hardly seems like reasoned analysis, just more of child-like wishful thinking. I disagree with you Mr. Segner, debt does matter. PS, could you please refrain from all-caps comments? This is akin to yelling, very poor form.
I appreciate the conversation and back and forth about this serious topic. I do, though, have to take offense by the name calling, finger pointing and sniping.
Little gets accomplished when opposing sides stand off against each other, cloaked in their reflective opinions. If you seriously want to address complaints, you may consider first coming forward and facing the music. If it isa fear of personal attacks, hopefully cooler heads will prevail, or thicker skin will be donned.
I am also concerned that some are beginning to label a “type” of visitor coming to
Sedona. I think everyone on earth should be able to visit Sedona. You did. What makes you so special?
As far as length of stay, perhaps visitors are coming for the first time and realizing there is little for their children to do. Proper private investment and development of the land across from the sewer plant could help solve that problem.
In spite of what anyone reads or dreams or wishes what Sedona represents, it remains a tourist town – all its eggs in one basket. The basket is limited in size and feeding time is a frenzy. This includes the general population, retail, grocery, lodging, eateries, etc – all crammed into that basket. Some leave the nest, others are forced out, still others grow while new eggs continue to hatch, making a demand for more resources, while a lot of the waste remains.
May I suggest you set up meetings with all the interested parties, including anonymous, and present your case in a polite, respectful manner. If nothing comes of it, at least you can say you walked the walk instead of just talking the talk.
Al I am say is if the city (need) to fix or re build streets or drainage that have a long life, then we should pay for them with bonds, that way the cost is shared by all the users over the live of the project.
To pay for the bonds a growing tax base helps pay for it.To grow our tax base (sales tax) is the easiest way.
steve
First, I am delighted to see so much intelligent and erudite commentary here. And like most, I am disappointed in the Chamber’s conspicuous absence in this debate.
My remarks may be a bit out-of-the-box but I will attempt to widen the discussion.
Keynesian economics is a theory that has proven to be effective so I will not reject deficit spending during times of stagnation out of hand. Where I feel this debate is really centered around is not economic theory, however, but the moral choices that all budgetary decisions are wedded. That’s where the Chamber and everything else should rightly be scrutinized. And yes, a lot of great commentary to that end.
To widen the discussion further, it seems rather obvious, at least to me, that Sedona is suffering from an identity crisis, and this crisis is reflected in incongruent and arguably incoherent budgetary decisions. In other words, there just doesn’t seem to be a plan, and worse yet, a vision! Most everything is reduced to tactics but tactics for what? Problems with the lack of ROI vis-a-vis the Chamber aside, I ask everyone to consider whether the Chamber is strategic, has a vision, and a plan to achieve the vision, or whether it is simply reactionary or opportunistic based on “me too” trends and directives.
When a city (or any entity) doesn’t really know what it is, or what it wants to be, a leadership vacuum is always present. This is where “me too activities” serve only to obfuscate the aforementioned identity crisis.
Perhaps the beginning of the solution is to actually come up with one. Bashing the Chamber only seems to solidify the status quo “business as usual” thinking.
Having lived in and around Sedona for the past 12 years, I still don’t know what it is, or what it stands for. Beauty juxtaposed with hideous strip malls and various “old West” fakery is not something I would want to sell. If that is indeed what Sedona stands for then the problems go way beyond the Chamber.
Bottom line public funds should not be used to market private business especially when the voting tax paying residents are not publicly and clearly consulted on these issues and so many of these decisions are made under the table and have a negative impact on our quality of life in Sedona.
Eleanor,
the money used for advertising comes 100% from bed tax and by state law says how it can be used. And remember the city council approved the tax.
I have lived in Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon for the past 35 years and have obviously seen Sedona go through tremendous changes is that time. Sedona is no longer the small town of 3,500 residents and a few thousand tourist a year, as it was back in 1979. Living in Oak Creek canyon, I experience first hand the 90 minutes it can take to travel 4 miles to town on a weekend, and for the first time ever this spring, traffic backups during week days. Our trial head parking areas and lots are flowing over with cars having to parking along the street and roads, and the trails themselves are becoming so crowded that the wilderness experience is being diminished for everyone. The Forest Service has asked the Chamber to stop sending people to Devil’s Bridge because the trail and road is being so overused.
We can not continue to ask tourists to come to Sedona, in ever increasing numbers, and not also spend the necessary money on Sedona City and Forest Service improvement to accommodate these numbers. It is time to look at solutions that will balance the interests and goals of the Sedona residents, businesses, tourists and city alike.
This series of articles by Concerned Sedona Resident and the comments from readers has raised many legitimate questions. At the same time, I would like to thank Steve Segner for the courage to take a stand for the opposing view point. It is necessary to have both sides of an issue presented to come up with a balanced solution to any problem.
So in closing, let me say that I am willing to serve on a committee that would look into a balanced solutions for the issues that are facing our city and surrounding area. Who else is willing to step up and join me, in working with others of differing interests and opinions, and all work together toward creating a better Sedona for everyone?
Concerned Sedona Resident
I agree, we need to fix Oak Creek then up town parking then some kind of shuttle to get around on weekends and that all take money and a will to get it done.
And believe it or not no more hotels (self serving) I know, let fill up mid week and summer…. spring and fall we need to post signs at the top of 89a saying Delays through 89a and get some of the traffic back on 17. Then get the Sedona police to start policing up town and the canyon.
I hat the traffic and we can fix it, but we all must remember a lot of people make there living off tourists, we need to work together on this
Steve
Mr. Segner continues to make false statements about city funding and tourism contributions, despite being corrected multiple times. First, city funding of the Chamber comes from the city’s General Fund of which only a small percentage is made up of bed taxes. (See more information in Part 2 of this series.) Next, Arizona state law does not require ANY part of the city’s bed tax collections to be used for tourism promotion. That rule only applies to cities of 100,000 population or more. Sedona can use bed tax for any general city purpose the City Council directs. Third, tourist sales taxes provide just over 20% of the city budget, not the 60% Mr. Segner claims. (See comments under Part 5 of this series.)
Finally, the Chamber of Commerce is indeed a 501 (c) (6) tax exempt organization. There are a number of IRS code 501 (c) (_) types of tax exempt organizations. As pointed out in Part 4 of this series, donations to the Chamber are not tax deductible to the donor like they would be if it were a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization like the Sedona Public Library, but the Chamber is exempt from paying taxes on most of it’s income. The Chamber should be paying Unrelated Business Income Taxes on things like the T-shirts it sells at it’s visitor center, however, because that income is not related to its tax exempt purpose. It would be violating IRS tax law if it does not.
Because Mr. Segner served on the city budget advisory committee at one time, one must assume he knows most or all of the above information and intentionally continues to say things he knows to be false in hopes that readers will believe him if he just says it enough times.
As the only one speaking for the Chamber, one must also assume they have consciously designated him as the organization’s spokesperson. Segner’s remarks throughout this series clearly demonstrate that the Chamber simply doesn’t get it. “Defending” their behaviors by telling us how many tourists drive through town and trying to impress us with more big numbers only shows that generating big numbers is all that matters to them. The stewardship obligation for Sedona’s environment, both inside and outside the city, is lost on them. The recognition that Sedona has reached and exceeded the limits of sustainable tourism is lost in their effort to continually increase the body count. And, they are completely oblivious to the fact that Sedona resident’s highest priority is sustaining and protecting this amazing place, not maximal exploitation for financial gain or tax generation!
Concerned Sedona Resident
Concerned Sedona Resident
Said Third, tourist sales taxes provide just over 20% of the city budget, not the 60% Mr. Segner claims. (See comments under Part 5 of this series.)Locals Generated
Sorry wrong see city of Sedona numbers below, and tithes is for our slow months
Please call the city and check the numbers you used were just made up>
Sales.pdf
Annual Totals July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014
Annual Local Amount
Percent of Local Amount
Advertising
106,066
106,066
100.0%
Amusement
18,489,772
1,580,484
8.5%
Commercial Lease
22,881,476
8,511,171
37.2%
Communications
7,183,999
2,483,175
34.6%
Contractors
35,859,150
13,338,448
37.2%
Hotel/Motel
65,253,568
–
0.0%
Installation
4,898
4,898
100.0%
Job Printing
82,301
82,301
100.0%
Municipality
–
–
0.0%
Owner Builder
1,779,641
1,779,641
100.0%
Per Property
6,661,236
1,396,286
21.0%
Publication
830,894
830,894
100.0%
Restaurant/Bar
72,462,496
20,512,915
28.3%
Retail
145,865,427
81,693,383
56.0%
Spec Builders
114,444
114,444
100.0%
Telco Services
253,043
253,043
100.0%
Transporting
310,610
101,712
32.7%
Use Tax Purchases
10,677,767
8,572,599
80.3%
Use Tax Utilities
1,235
1,235
100.0%
Utilities
24,113,014
8,969,264
37.2%
Total Annual Sales for FY 13-14
412,931,037
150,331,959
36.4% tax income paid by locals
Man, this aint the Sedona that we moved here for in 1978. There are a lot o fabulous for lack of a better word who were not able to get their way wherever they lived before and then came here to try to flex their muscles and be the big boss here. Move back to where you came from.
As for visitors, blame the local media. Pictures of tranquil Sedona are all over twitter, Facebook and the travel shows that make it look like it is some kind of out of this world Xanadu. It is still a great place to live and visit but stop marketing it to be what it is not.
@stevesegner
Steve, you said, “Jean, the sky is not falling” and “…Jean, just look at the numbers.” Really, Steve? Then explain this earth shattering headline today:
[Steve] Wynn Calls “Big” Recovery “Complete Dream” As Gaming Revenues Collapse…
see the story at this link today…http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-05/wynn-calls-big-recovery-complete-dream-gaming-revenues-collapse
Wynn screams out in his warnings to the financial world…”If you were to ask me, since we’re making forward-looking statements, what will the second quarter look like in Las Vegas? Weak. Do you hear me? Weak.”
Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson, who between them, are the two largest private gaming casino owners in both Las Vegas and Macao, say the sky is, indeed, falling Mr. Segner. And, believe me, your little El Portal would fit in the main dining room of one or their many hotels. Maybe you would like to tell them that they don’t know what they’re talking about too? THEY ARE THE LEADING TIDEMARK INDICATORS FOR THE TOURISM INDUSTRY! Period!
I recall, when you and I served together on Rob Adams first “Mayor’s Economic Steering Committee,” where I was the only published economist, I had to get up in front of the committee and use the chalk board to graph out for all of you the consequences of an asymmetrical recession and you never did get it. I will repeat what I’ve said in several earlier missives at this site: You don’t know how to correlate relevant facts in order to create the financial assumptions upon which are built the revenue side of a budget forecast. The aggregate of your statistical presentations here are just a giant dung heap of facts that don’t lead to the conclusions that you so arrogantly publish. So, you claim Jean Jenks uses numbers to scare people? I say, you, yourself, scare people! That’s pretty obvious based on the reactions to your failed argument.
Yes,and you were not asked back as I remember, look,the numbers are the numbers.
You are just flat wrong.
Sale tax and bed tax numbers in Sedona are way up.
The Sedona Chamber has helped turn the numbers around.
Rick, you talk but do not use any supporting numbers?
Show us …. Show that the numbers I posted are wrong. Show us city numbers. Not Las Vegas numbers. We have no casinos.
Oh ya Mr, Economist, I retired my first time when you were still IN collage.
I actually started business not just studied them
Steve
@stevesegner,
College,yes, and maybe that’s why I can spell “college.” Collages you will find in most of our art galleries.
Meanwhile, I ask, can you read Mr Segner? How many times does Concerned Sedona Resident, and I, and most of the other bloggers here have to explain to you that the Chamber’s efforts have brought more harm than good to this town because the numbers you recite are the result of bringing the wrong kind of tourists here and the result of side-streaming public monies to support out of town Chamber members. Worse yet, competitive bidding for the Destination Marketing contract, if put out to public bid, will secure a professional DMO contractor who will do more for this town for a lot less money. TRY PAYING ATTENTION Steve! I don’t give a rat’s a** about your damned numbers. They’re not germane to the point. You and the Chamber are part of the problem, not the solution. Apparently you haven’t read one damned thing that anyone opposed to your way of thinking has written here. The DMO contract money could have been spent developing city partnerships with profit generating clean industries and shared public-private revenue projects that would have generated superior tax revenues and shared profits to the city over and above our current tourism bed taxes. Check out the City of Palm Desert and see how they grew to blow Sedona away as a competitor in the southwestern destination traveler market. They attracted people like Bill Gates, the world’s wealthiest man, as a contributing benefactor who has a house there, while Sedona got…the Lodging Council with you as spokesman and the single client Sedona Chamber who doesn’t even understand the difference in the networking dynamics of Facebook and a YouTube Channel.
@Concerned Sedona Resident
re: Opinion: Selling Sedona, Prolog, Parts 1-5 & Epilogue
While I will concede that Sedona.biz is a fine and necessary community bulletin board publication that I come to quite often, with a style of format that is even better than that of Scottsdale, I believe that the vital political issues exposed in the subject series of articles by Concerned Sedona Resident needs a far broader exposure than Sedona.biz, alone, can offer. Meanwhile, the necessary greater exposure is within the purview and province of SedonaEye.com (but NOT the RRN since Rick Wesselhoff, the husband of Chamber of Commerce CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff, is a Partner in that publication along with the Larson family). So,
I repeat from my previous comment of April 28, 2015 at 4:08 pm,
@Concerned Sedona Resident,
Your 5 part series has been superb in terms of thoroughness of research, credibility and demonstration of polished writing ability. More than those matters, though, I appreciate your courage. Notwithstanding, however, your message won’t get much exposure unless you ask Cathi Hill (owner & publisher) at SedonaEye.com to publish it. Her site is a true news and discussion site as opposed to being just a community bulletin board where every comment is censored for fear of offending Mr Segner or Ms. Wesselhoff. If you really do want the Selling of Sedona to get some serious traction, please take it to SedonaEye.com where the public can speak out about the issues you disclose without fear of retribution from the publisher.
Send your articles and comments to… publisher@sedoneeye.com. Direct it to Cathi Hill, publisher.
We’re sorry that Mr. Normand finds Sedona.biz “just a community bulletin board …” For the record, we do not censor opinions, however we do have a strict policy against name-calling. When a comment comes in that indulges in name-calling, we reach out to the commentator to request permission to remove such content before the comment is published. If/when the commentator fails to respond, the comment will not be published as we do not edit without permission.
I’m sure Concerned Sedona Resident is well aware of SedonaEye. We’re honored that he/she considered Sedona.biz a better venue for the “Selling Sedona” series.
Not surprisingly, Steve Segner’s May 4, 2015 reply to Concerned Sedona Resident uses bogus sales tax numbers.
His “Annual Total July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014” figure of $412,931,037 is a whopper. The City Financial Services Department reports “2013-14 Tax Revenue [Sales & Bed Tax Collected]” for this exact period as $14,206,467 ($398,724,370 less).
Steve’s “36.4% Tax Income Paid by Locals” number is likewise incorrect. Sewer taxes* and shared revenue such as state income taxes, state sales taxes, state gas taxes and county vehicle license taxes originate primarily from residents and must be included. Their July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014 annual totals?
Sewer Taxes, $5,421,995. Locals pay over 50%.** Meanwhile, lodgings have a multitude of toilets and wash an abundance of sheets and towels DAILY.
State Shared Revenue:
Sales Taxes $ 873,126
Income Taxes $1,118,082
Gas Taxes $ 780,913
Shared Vehicle Taxes from Yavapai & Coconino Counties: $ 508,518
* Assistant City Manager Daines informed the City Council during the FY 2015-16 Budget Work Session on April 29th that she and the Human Resources Manager will be charging a portion of their salaries to the Wastewater Fund. WTF?
** The City’s FY 2013-14 “Cost of Service Adjustment” increased single-family residential sewer rates 10% (Low-Flow Category excepted) and Lodgings 6.4%. Sewer rates for Restaurants were reduced -27% and those for Multi-Family Residential abodes -17%. Lisa Dahl’s Mariposa Restaurant is exempt from being connected to the ridiculously costly sewer system and has a leach field/septic system going in.
@jeanjenks
Thank you ever so much for your usual correct financial analysis of the Segner provided hugely misleading numbers, Jean. Maybe you will get to publish your comments again after Concerned Sedona Resident posts his/her Selling Sedona series to publisher@sedonaeye.com
JRN
Again with the name calling and finger pointing. At least one of you volunteered to meet with concerned parties and work to develop a solution. For the record I have run businesses in Sedona for more than 26 years, including the only hard copy that actually told the truth and is still available online and now for sale because business owners in Sedona still think there are so many visitors to pick from that all they have to do is hang out their “OPEN” sign.
The chamber, forest service and city leaders have been lying since incorporation, to all who will listen, about the true number of visitors that come to Sedona. The Grand Canyon takes tickets and can hard count their visitation rate. Their number on a good year? 5 million. For Sedona to boast 4 million gives a false sense of hope to prospective business owners, which is why consolidation and failure have been so popular.
There is a great difference between traffic counts and ” visitors.” The latter stays, spends money and contributes to the ever-growing infrastructure they demand. When you provide lodging that have kitchens in every room in a city that has no food tax – well, where is the money to come from? Would parking meters in uptown qualify the customer a s someone who is going to shop or eat? Possibly. Would it as well, generate revenue to aid in fixing the parking problem. Perhaps more than bringing in a Chipotles. Perhaps.
Perhaps the 2 new hotels along SR89A will generate enough income to allow the city to do something constructive across from the sewer plant. If Sedona really thought their exit strategy didn’t stink, they would have built their refuse system nearer to Cornville. To date, it has been a hefty waste of resources to accommodate already too many hostels. there will be more.
I have read much to complain about, but still yet to see anyone offer a viable solution. Hope the coming pages offer constructive venues to agreeable conclusions.