County’s tourism authority passes trimmed-down budget

ASHEBORO — The Randolph County Tourism Development Authority Board of Directors passed a budget for 2026-27 that is $65,000 less than the current year. The vote came May 20 after a public hearing during which there were no comments.

The 3.5 percent drop is the result of planning with an eye on the increased cost of gasoline as well as a slowdown in business travel in the county. 

The major source of revenue for the TDA is a 5 percent room occupancy tax. It’s estimated by staff that the funds created by the tax will be some $200,000 less than the budgeted amount for the current fiscal year.

The 2026-27 budget totals $1,805,000, which is $65,000 less than the 2025-26 budget. Interest income, another source of revenue, is budgeted for the coming year at $35,000, down from the current $50,000.

To help shore up the revenues, the new budget appropriates $250,000 from the fund balance, or reserves. The current budget used just $100,000 of fund balance.

Of the total budget, the Heart of NC Visitors Bureau, which is the official destination marketing organization within the TDA, will receive $1,585,000. The remaining $220,000 is a contract fee from the NC Department of Transportation for the management of the twin Visitor Centers on I-73/74 south of Seagrove. That revenue remains the same as 2025-26.

Expenditures of the Heart of NC Visitors Bureau are used to promote tourism within Randolph County. The largest portion of the budget goes to marketing cost, which is $847,000, or some $27,327 less than the current budget. Of that, $450,000 is for advertising, $667 less than this year.

Total tourism-related costs are budgeted to drop from $35,000 this year to $21,000 in 2026-27.

Personnel costs are budgeted to drop to $534,036 from the current $571,213. Reflected in those numbers is the tourism sales coordinator position that was approved last year but has not been filled. For that reason, the position is only funded for the second half of the budget year.

According to the TDA budget message, “The motivating goal of the Authority is to fuel the local business climate and broaden the tax base by supporting a welcoming environment that stimulates the visitor economy, producing new tourism dollars for Randolph County that helps further reduce the tax burden on residents.”

Members of the TDA board agreed that the drop in revenues is not a local problem but is the result of higher costs nationally and internationally.