The Brown County Music Center was heavily supported last year by the county’s innkeepers tax due to the pandemic. That meant that the Brown County Convention and Visitors Bureau, also supported by the tax, received $186,250 less of their contracted amount for 2020. The bureau has yet to receive any innkeepers tax money this year.
Bureau Executive Director Jane Ellis says the lack of money has cost the bureau two full time staff members, several part-time staff and has limited paid advertising. But she understands why the music center must be supported now and feels lucky that tourism in Brown County has not been negatively affected by the pandemic.
“Obviously we’d like to have that money back as soon as possible but we also understand that these are unprecedented times," Ellis said.
According to the Brown County Democrat, the Bureau asked the commission which manages the innkeeper tax money to commit to making up the money. But right now, the commission is focused on getting the bureau money to work with this year.
"We didn’t think we’d have to figure out a system for a shortfall of innkeepers tax so quickly so that’s all we’re trying to do," Ellis said. "We were really not expecting to be in this boat so let’s make sure that we’re doing what we need to do to meet the agreements and whatever needs to be done to get our money back.”
The Bureau usually gets about $175,000 every quarter from the innkeeper’s tax but Ellis says they don’t expect to get money this year until June or later. Until then, the Bureau will focus on keeping its website and social media up to date while the Brown County Visitor’s Center stays closed to save money. Ellis hopes to have funds in time to advertise the total solar eclipse that will be visible from Brown County and much of Indiana in 2024.
