The City Council created Tourism Business Improvement District No. 0002 (TBID) on October 1, 2007.  The City, on behalf of the TBID, assesses city hotels a fee per occupied room night and the TBID uses the assessments to promote tourism in the Billings area.  State law sunsets TBIDs after ten (10) years of operation, so the TBID terminates later this year.  Re-creating or extending the TBID must follow the same procedure as when the district was initially created.  Visit Billings asked the City Council to re-create the district for another 10 years and has submitted petitions representing >60% of the hotel properties to be assessed.  The Council may adopt a Resolution of Intent to create the district and set a public hearing on May 8, 2017.  The hotels that will be assessed will be notified about the Council's action and the public hearing.   

The City Council may approve or may disapprove the resolution of intent.  If Council approves the resolution, it will conduct a public hearing on May 8, after which it may create the district.  Hotels to be assessed may submit written protests anytime within 15 days after publishing the Resolution and the Council may not create the district if protests exceed 50%.  If the Council disapproves the resolution, the current TBID will expire later this year and operations will terminate when all funds have been expended.

There is no financial impact associated with the Resolution of Intent.  TBID revenues and expenses will be discussed if the Council considers a resolution to create the district. 

nothing