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Gotta Keep 'em Separated The 10 November 2003 edition of the Zeitgeist e-Zine As the saga continues to unfold in Denver, the media is rapidly retreating from the “strip club” story line to one of “accountability.” You see, now that it is becoming clearer that the event in question was a “Business After Hours” type event at a Bureau member business at which Bureau money was not spent…well, the media is backtracking. Never mind that former Denver CVB CEO Eugene Dilbeck is now unemployed…News7 is covering its tracks like a squirrel hiding its nuts.
But, out of the Denver ruins, a new issue has poked its head out of the ashes. Now doing an audit of the Bureau’s books, the City has noted that the Bureau has been “co-mingling” city funds with membership revenues. In other words, they’ve been depositing room tax revenues into the same bank account as membership dues, co-op revenues and other private sector income. Like most of us do. If an alarm isn’t sounding in your ears and the words “Danger, Will Robinson” aren’t flashing in front of you, they should be. Because this is the next trip-wire in the path of CVBs across North America. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with co-mingling funds. But those on the outside will try to position this as an unsavory way of doing business. And (again), perception is reality. When I headed the Greater Madison (WI) CVB a decade ago, I was front and center in the drive to win the public referendum to build the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Monona Terrace Convention Center. Through the grapevine, we heard that the opposition was about to challenge my involvement in the campaign on the basis that our budget was powered by room tax revenue. And, as public revenues cannot be spent to sway public opinion, they were hoping to sideline me for the duration of the campaign. We beat them to the punch by setting up two bank accounts: one for public funds and one for private revenue. We arranged for my salary, benefits, phone, FAX, office supplies and whatever else I touched to be paid from membership revenues. The rest of the Bureau’s operations were funded through the public account. To be doubly sure, we even set up the accounts in different banks. While it was a maneuver designed to keep me in play during the Convention Center campaign, in the end, it was an agile move for the organization. And, it’s one that you should strongly consider as many of you approach the end of your fiscal year. Whether it’s getting involved in a political issue, paying for alcohol or anything else that may be construed as off-limits for “public funds,” separating your room tax revenues from your private sector income is a smart move. And one that we should all consider strongly.
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But,
what’s done is done. Regardless of the fact that no CVB money
was involved, giving the OK for a Bureau event at a strip club is still
asking for trouble. And trouble they got because perception is reality.