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Hernando Today

Tourism Council Praised For Audit

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By MICHAEL D. BATES, Hernando Today

Published: February 22, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Tourism Director Sue Rupe has unveiled an amended spending allocation plan to present to county commissioners at an upcoming meeting.

The plan comes one week after the release of a county audit that gave the tourism development department mostly high marks. The only recommendation was to update the department's spending plan.

That has essentially been accomplished, Rupe said Thursday.

In fact, Rupe said that plan was already in the works at the time the audit was being written.

"We have since gone in and tweaked the plan and come up with new percentages and a new plan based upon estimated revenue," Rupe said.

The plan breaks down this way:

Sixty-nine percent will be used on promotion, which encompasses everything from trade shows, Web site development and advertising. That also includes the $109,000 in salary and benefits paid out to Rupe and the only other paid staffer in her department: Carole Knudson, her information specialist.

Twenty-one percent goes toward product improvement. That money goes into a reserve account to cover costs of infrastructure and maintenance (on the eastside welcome center, for example).

Ten percent is earmarked for general overhead and includes the money the council pays to the county for administrative services.

"It was a good audit," Circuit Court Clerk Karen Nicolai said.
Nicolai said the spending plan was in need of updating but that was understood and she knew that efforts had already been under way to follow through on the audit recommendation.
Nicolai went so far as to call it "praiseworthy."

The audit said it "appears that expenditures of tourist development tax dollars are reasonably controlled and provide some assurance that they are adequately recorded, reported and in compliance" with state and county ordinances.

In other areas, the TDC received high marks for operations.

The audit's only concern was what it called the "disparity between The TDC plan (financial goals) and actual expenditures."
Rupe disputed reports in another newspaper that her department is considering building a conference center.

There have been past discussions as to whether Hernando County could support a multi-purpose center, which could be used for conferences or other events, she said.

But that would require a feasibility study that has not yet been performed, she said.

"That was never presented as a formalized plan," Rupe said.

Reporter Michael D. Bates can be reached at 352-544-5290 or mbates@hernandotoday.com.

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