Travel and Tourism accounts go above FDIC insured levels

At the November Hot Springs County Travel & Tourism board meeting, Tourism Director Angie Guyon reported that Pinnacle Bank “is concerned because we are holding too much money in the bank.” The money in total in their accounts is beyond the $250,000 FDIC insured threshold, with the board being about $60,000 over. According to the board’s financial documents at that time, the total amount of money the tourism board had was about $275,000. 

According to Guyon, per Wyoming Statute, the tourism board is required to spend 100% of lodging tax revenue each fiscal year and that there should be no carryover. Additionally, saving the money in a money market account would not be in compliance with state statute. The tourism board has held carryover money in a money market account for multiple years.

The purpose of the lodging tax board is to spend lodging tax dollars from tourists who stay at hotels, motels, or short-term rentals. This tax revenue is not collected from local residents. The money’s purpose is for the marketing of Hot Springs County to bring in new visitors. These visitors spend money, stay in hotels and help keep the community thriving. 

One board member suggested they move the money into a different account, however it was noted in the meeting that to bring the balance of money down without spending it, the money would have to be moved to a different banking institution.

Continuing in the discussion, Guyon said that if they paid Wyo Signs for the digital sign now in full, they would bring the total money below the FDIC threshold.

However, Chairman Will Robinson objected and said, “I kind of have reservations about that. You know, they’re not breaking ground yet.” 

Vice Chair Mike Sinclair added, “We have over a year once the sign is done to pay. So once the sign is complete…That’s the other reason I don’t see us needing to make the payment for something we don’t have.”

Sinclair suggested paying Wyo Signs $30,000 now and then collecting interest on the remaining money during the time it takes to complete the project.

The money for the digital sign installed by Wyo Signs of Casper comes from a grant from Wyoming Destination Development Funds in the amount of $80,000. That money can only be used for the digital sign and the entire amount is obligated to Wyo Signs according to their contract. The installation of the digital sign is expected to be completed in the spring of 2025.

The board’s financial matter of having too much money in their accounts continued into the December meeting. In the financial report at the December 17 HSC Travel & Tourism board meeting, Director Guyon reported that they now have $26,195.54 in their Pinnacle Bank checking account and $229,700.36 in their Pinnacle Money Market account. Their total funds available as of November 30, 2024, was $255,895.90, of that $50,000 is Destination Development Funds. In the prior year, their total funds available as of November 2023 was $220,420.26. This included $219,501.45 in the Money Market account.

At the December 17 meeting, Guyon reported that they received another letter of concern from Pinnacle Bank that they are still holding too much money and are still above the threshold for being insured by the FDIC. The bank asked that they start spending more money.

Guyon said in the financial report, “I had requested from the board last meeting that we send the money to Wyo Signs. That’s from the destination development funds and it would  put us underneath the threshold of FDIC insured. We need to make a decision today so we can be in compliance with the bank. We owe Wyo Signs $50,000.”

They’ll be here January 6 through January 10. Kevin Smith is going to help them remove the old sign and dig the footers for the new sign. They will pour concrete and let it sit for a couple of days, then they’re going to start the installation. The LED message center arrived yesterday. It should have been there on December 3. So that’s why they didn’t start the project already.”

Vice Chair Mike Sinclair asked, “Do you think $20,000 would be acceptable to get us to that number?”

Chair Robinson said, “I’m fine with going up to $30,000.”

Guyon replied, “Yes, for now. But, because next month, we’re going to get another [lodging tax] deposit, it’s going to put us back over that threshold.”

Vice Chair Sinclair asked, “But we are spending money on these other advertisements?”

Guyon replied, “Correct. But the billing doesn’t come up right away. Most bills come once the advertisement is ready.”

Chair Robinson said, “I have the same concern. Make sure we don’t pay them the whole thing before they get the thing done.”

Vice Chair Sinclair asked Guyon about the possible collaboration with the Independent Record (IR) on their visitor’s guide. Guyon explained that the IR is dealing with a time constraint and that the matter would be pushed to 2026 and revisited then.

Sinclair said, “I guess the point was, we don’t have any other bigger expenses that are coming up in the next month.”

Guyon replied, “Not unless you make some decisions on some marketing opportunities.”

Sinclair discussed keeping some funds “to encourage them to get this project done.”

Guyon replied that the delays on the digital sign were not Wyo Signs’ fault and that Samsung caused the delay of the communication center. She added, “I have complete confidence in Enoch and his team [Wyo Signs] that they’re going to fulfill their end of this and complete this project.” She also said that there is a long line of documentation with the Destination Development grant funds paying for the digital sign and that Wyo Signs would “have disastrous repercussions for him if they don’t follow through…I don’t think whether we pay him $30,000 now or $50,000 now, it’s going to make a difference. We just need to be concerned for ourselves, remaining FDIC insured and keeping underneath that threshold. I have all the faith in the world that Enoch and his team are going to complete this project in January.”

Sinclair asked, “Has the bank talked about can we do a CD for three months, six months, something like that, to get, you know, $70,000 or something? We know that we wouldn’t be using for the next 3 to 6 months.”

Guyon replied, “She didn’t say.”

Guest Meri Ann Dorman said, “The only way that would work is if you did it at a different bank because the FDIC does all of your deposits, not just per account, it’s all the money you have at one bank or under one TIN number is how they do it. It’s not accounts.”

Sinclair replied, “I disagree with that…but I’m not sure.”

Guyon added, “Well, according to [Pinnacle Bank], the money in our accounts is combined, and if it is over $250,000, we are no longer FDIC insured. So I would assume Meri Ann is correct in saying that all of the money being held at that bank has to be under a certain threshold.”

Guyon read an email from the bank and said, “It looks like your accounts combined are still $5,000 over the $250,000 FDIC limit of being covered by insurance. They are wondering if this money is going to be going out before the end of the year to get you guys covered. They like to watch the limits, not only for the bank’s coverage but also if you guys were to get audited.” Guyon said “I just think we should make this easy on ourselves and just pay Wyo Signs what we owe them for this project.”

Sinclair expressed his concerns about Wyo Signs taking a long time and said that “It’s good that we’re not the opposite way around, that we’re flipped the other way and that we’re only over by $5,000.”

Guyon replied, “Not really a great thing, because by law, we are required to spend 100% of our revenue…And it’s something that hasn’t been done for the last four years.”

Treasurer Audra Domingez completed the financial report and said that for November 29, 2024, they received $14,388.25 in lodging tax revenue. In the previous year, for November 30, 2023, they received $17,631.37.

While reviewing their expenditures, Guyon discussed that she canceled their Constant Contact. The annual fee they were charged was $1,242.50. The reason for cancellation was the service hasn’t been used since March 2023 and was not approved by the board. Also, the board doesn’t have an email list. It could possibly be with former tourism director Jackie Dorothy with her Legend Rock Media business or in Dorothy’s personal email account. The HSC Tourism Board no longer has any email list to use. The board had been charged for the service annually without it being used. There was additional discussion about why the charges are being billed when Constant Contact doesn’t charge for non-profit entities. 

The board voted and passed the approval of adding percentages to the budget reporting and for this month’s financial report.

During new business, Guyon returned to the budgets of 2023 and 2024 and detailed their expenses. She added, “By law, we are required to spend 100% of our revenue every year. I thought it was only 90%. but since our county commissioners graciously allow us to keep that 10%, we are required to spend 100% of our revenue.”

Guyon continued and said, “When Park County set up their travel and tourism, they started collecting lodging tax, but didn’t start the Park County Travel Council for another year. So they have one year’s worth of collections in the bank. When they start a new fiscal year, they have an exact revenue amount for their budget.”

Guyon added, “Now we don’t have to go back and reinvent the wheel on this. However, we are required to spend this money. So my approach is to take the $40,000 that was not spent last fiscal year, add it to this year’s budget and the revenue from lodging taxes collected January through June will go towards next year’s budget. We will then have an exact amount that we can work off of for the next fiscal year. Moving forward, each fiscal year, the board will have an exact amount of revenue for the budget. We won’t have to guess or wonder and worry how many hotels are going to be closing or any problems in the future. We’ll know the exact amount because we budgeted that out the previous year.”

Guyon then detailed the budget and showed information comparing data with and without Destination Development funds and said, “So we have $198,000 left in our budget that we have to spend for the fiscal year…If the board does approve the new budget strategy, we’ll have to do an amendment to our budget once those calculations are made on the revenue…And then every fiscal year, we will have the exact amount spend in our budget.”

Board member Quinton Blair said, “I’m not against it. In fact, I think it’s probably a pretty good idea, but I don’t fully understand the mechanisms. I would prefer it be tabled so I can wrap my head around it.”

Guyon replied that she can put this budget and amendment together in writing. This would assist the board on how to state the motion. The budget plan and amendment was tabled.

At the conclusion of the board meeting on December 17, the board voted and passed the approval to pay Wyo Signs $20,000.