CVB role on York County hospitality tax committee questioned
York County’s new Hospitality Tax Advisory Committee has been operating only a few months, but some County Council members already are alleging that an official working with the group has a conflict of interest.
The County Council’s finance and operations committee asked county administrators to determine if a new liaison could be named for the tax committee, which reviews how money collected from the county’s hospitality tax is spent.
That current liaison, Mikki Rentschler, finance director for the Rock Hill/York County Convention & Visitors Bureau, came under fire because the CVB receives hospitality tax money.
Councilman Joe Cox, chairman of the finance committee, called it a conflict of interest for anyone with the CVB to hold a formal role with the tax committee. He called Rentschler’s current role “unethical.”
“You can’t have someone from the CVB explaining how to spend the hospitality tax when the CVB is funded through the hospitality tax,” Cox said.
Cox said he doesn’t mind if Rentschler attends the hospitality tax committee meetings, but he worries she could unduly influence the committee while she’s acting in an official capacity as the liaison.
The liaison is not a voting member of the hospitality tax committee, but does handle administrative responsibilities, such as organizing the meetings and ordering food for the participants. Rentschler also sees her role as answering members’ tourism-related questions.
“There can be some complications in the law and the state code around tourism, and my role is to answer those questions,” she said. “But I’m willing to get lunch, carry the projector or do whatever job I’m asked to do.
“I’m there because I was asked to act as an adviser by my board, who are also appointed by the council.”
Ultimately, any decisions on how to spend hospitality tax money are made by the County Council.
“It’s not my call,” Rentschler said. “No one person is going to tell 10 other volunteers what they can do. I’d love to have that power.”
Watts Huckabee, chairman of the Hospitality Tax Advisory Committee, said he hasn’t heard any of the other members say Rentschler was trying to influence how the meetings are run.
“The committee is completely separate from the CVB,” he said. “It doesn’t have oversight over what we do. Each person serving on this board has the responsibility for working these questions out on their own.”
The County Council’s finance committee might consider making a change at its next meeting. Councilman Michael Johnson wants the county administration to look at the issue and report back on whether a change needs to be made and, if so, who might act as the new liaison to the committee. Cox suggested someone from the county finance department could fill that role.
“We don’t want there to even appear to be a conflict of interest,” Johnson said, adding that committee members might be unsure if they are expected to set funding for the CVB along with other projects.
“If they’re not sure whether they only work with the 50 percent of funds that don’t go to the CVB or all the money the hospitality tax takes in, then the council needs to give them those answers.”
Huckabee worries that “prior prejudices” against the CVB are driving the concerns rather than anything that has occurred in a committee meeting since the full committee first started meeting in August.
The County Council formed the advisory committee earlier this year as some council members pushed to reduce the CVB’s overall budget amid accusations of favoritism toward projects in Rock Hill. The council sought more oversight of the visitors bureau through the new 11-member committee, whose members are all selected by the council.
“It’s highly unfortunate if personal bias is going to interfere with the responsibilities of the committee,” Huckabee said.
This story was originally published November 11, 2014 at 9:05 PM with the headline "CVB role on York County hospitality tax committee questioned."