Page 210 - City of Fort Worth Budget Book

Special Revenue Fund Culture and Tourism

The Culture and Tourism Fund also provides the commercial insurance premiums on Dickies Arena, operational
funding for Visit Fort Worth (VFW) - formerly known as the Convention & Visitor’s Bureau (CVB), which includes
the Fort Worth Herd - and administrative support to the Fort Worth Sports Authority.
In FY2010, the Public Events Department (PED) moved from the General Fund to the Culture & Tourism Fund.
This was completed to align the department’s revenues and expenditures, particularly with regard to the relational
impact PED’s activities have on the Hotel Occupancy Tax.
The Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) captures revenues collected from hotels, motels, bed & breakfasts, inns, short-
term rentals, as well as condominiums, apartments, and houses rented for less than 30 consecutive days. The
current hotel occupancy tax rate of 15%, levied on every room night charge, is split 7% for the City, 6% for the
State, and 2% for capital improvements and meeting existing debt service obligations for the Fort Worth
Convention Center, Will Rogers Memorial Center, and (if necessary) Dickies Arena.

FY2025 DISCUSSION AND SIGNIFICANT CHANGES

Because the C&T Fund is a Special Revenue Fund, revenues and expenses for the annual budget are required to
balance. The FY2025 revenue budget includes $35.8 million (60%) from the 7% HOT allocated to operations,
$17.5 million (30%) for PED facilities and the balance of $5.9 million (10%) from other sources including the Office
of Outdoor Events and other partnerships. The FY2025 expenditure budget includes $51.9 million for operating
expenses and a planned contribution of $7.5 million to fund balance for a total FY2025 adopted budget of $59.4
million.

The FY2024 adopted budget $54.1 million, and was later amended to $55.4 million as a result of the need to
advance the FEI World Cup payment Host agreement and account for the FY2023 CVB/VFW True-up payment.
These expenditures were offset by increased tax collections.

The FY2025 adopted revenue budget of $59.4 million increases 6% for HOT 7% collection compare to FY2024.
When comparing operational expenditures, the C&T fund increases 1% from the FY2024 adopted expenditure
budget of $48.1 million to $48.6 million for FY2025, with the major contributors to the increase associated with
commercial insurance premiums and other allocations, staff salary and benefits, and contractual obligations with
VFW. Additionally, the anticipated expenses for the economic development grant rebates for the Omni, Sheraton
and Kimpton hotels increased in FY2025 and the C&T Fund continues to reimburse Trail Drive Management
Company for the Dickies Arena commercial liability insurance. There are no budgeted expenditures for advance
funding of capital improvements to be included in the FY2025 budget.

In FY2025, with the sustained stability of not just recovery but growth to the travel and tourism industry, the Public
Events Department will focus on maintaining facility revenues while major capital improvements are taking place
at with the expansion of the Fort Worth Convention Center and at multiple facilities across the Will Rogers
Memorial Center campus, including the major renovation of the Sheep & Swine Barn, while also continuing daily
maintenance and delivering “Best in Class” experience to our clients. Discipline will be critical to achieving capital
project goals while continuing to manage rising cost and build future debt capacity.
The Recommended Budget:

• Increases by $5,306,316 in anticipated revenue including:
$2,192,281 for anticipated HOT 7% Collections;

$1,704,514 for operational revenue collections at the FWCC and WRMC;
$1,530,188 from FWSSR- Venue Debt (Sheep & Swine) 2023B;
$85,655 from building lease and convention center vending machine sales;
Decreases ($188,770) for transfers from the General Fund to offset for Economic Development (ED)
Grant Rebates and ED Marketing Services in the VFW Contract.

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