Yorkville Could Break Off from Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau

Mayor Gary Golinski is meeting with a marketing firm this week after aldermen seemed disinclined to renew the city's agreement with the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The city received $51,029 in revenue last year from a 3 percent hotel tax. The city funnels 90 percent of the hotel tax revenue to the bureau under its current agreement, so last year the city paid about $45,000.

Golinski is curious if the city can spend less than that on brochures and television and magazine advertising so the remaining money can be spent on elsewhere. The money must be spent promoting Yorkville and tourism in Yorkville, but the possibilities are rather broad, Golinski said.

Yorkville aldermen weren't too keen on extending the city's contract with the bureau for 5 years when discussing it at their Committee of the Whole meeting last week. The first agreement was signed in 1990 and last renewed in 2007.

City staff supported renewing the membership, largely to take advantage of the bureau's staff and tourism experience. But aldermen questioned if Yorkville was receiving services commensurate with the money being spent.

Ward 4 Alderman Rose Spears was concerned that Yorkville only had one representative on the organization's governing board.

“I don’t think I could support anything more than a 2-year contract, if I could even support that," Spears said.

The topic could be discussed again at Tuesday's City Council meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. at City Hall.