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Medford's lodging tax revenue could be up for grabs Thursday May 25, 2017 at 5:47 PM May 25, 2017 at 5:47 PM Damian Mann Mail Tribune @reporterdm Travel Medford's future was hotly debated Thursday by the Medford City Council, which will decide whether to develop a better contract or start over with another organization to promote tourism. "Nobody wants to become extinct," said Eli Matthews, senior vice president of Travel Medford and a former city councilor. "We want to continue to work with the city." Matthews said Travel Medford and the chamber have made great strides in meeting many of the objections raised last year by the council. He said 83 percent of chambers throughout the country receive city funds, so it's not unusual for a city such as Medford to invest a portion of the transient lodging tax into his organization, which is part of The Chamber of Medford/Jackson County. Councilor Mike Zarosinski said a big sticking point for him with Travel Medford is knowing whether the city is getting its money's worth from the existing contract. "I was shocked that we didn't have any requirements in the contract," he said. "We need to tighten up that contract." The council may decide June 15 whether to seek proposals from other organizations. Another option is developing more metrics in a new contract with Travel Medford to determine its performance. Councilors generally agreed that the existing contract doesn't provide enough oversight to determine how successful Travel Medford has been at tourism promotion. "This is not an excellent contract," Councilor Kim Wallan said. However, with a better contract that would require better reporting, Wallan said, the city could work with Travel Medford going forward. Councilor Kay Brooks said her first choice would be to have other proposals from organizations that would promote tourism, and she found the current contract lacking. "It's like word salad," Brooks said. Travel Medford receives a portion of transient lodging taxes, which have increased 31 percent over the past three years.  In 2013-14, Travel Medford received $732,133, according to the city Finance Department. In 2014-15, the amount increased to $828,642, and in 2015-16, it was $955,999. Last year the council couldn't decide on the future of its relationship with Travel Medford, finally settling on adding two years to a pre-existing five-year contract, which will end in June 2018. Councilors sought more assurances that Travel Medford operates with greater independence from the chamber. Under questioning from councilors, Matthews said there is no requirement that members of a newly formed tourism council be chamber members. He told counselors he would prepare a list of vendors that work with his organization to see how many are chamber members. The chamber's political action committee has stopped sending campaign dollars to the council and mayor, Matthews said. Matthews said the increasing dollars from the transient lodging tax show that tourism promotion has been working. In addition, Jackson County saw $547.9 million in travel and tourism in 2016, a 3.8 percent increase over 2015, according to a report by Dean Runyan Associates for the Oregon Tourism Commission. Councilor Clay Bearnson, who has been in favor of separating from the chamber, said the city should form its own transient lodging tax commission. Councilor Kevin Stine said he was concerned about Travel Medford's connection with the chamber because of its political nature. "It will always be a political organization," he said. Councilor Tim Jackle, who has supported Travel Medford, said he still hasn't heard any compelling reason why the city should end its 42-year relationship with the organization. "I have never heard once that they do not promote the community," he said. — Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on www.twitter.com/reporterdm.