Correction/Clarification: Kathy Beard misquoted by The Caroline [Lack of] Progress.

Kathy Beard, the Director of Tourism, was [mis]quoted as stating that the county received $1,600,000 in taxes from the transient occupancy tax (TOT) in 2007 by The Caroline Progress.

Gary Wilson’s response to an e-mail seeking a comment about that claim:

Mr. Watson,

Thanks for your questions regarding the impact of the tourism industry in Caroline County.

The report discussed during the meeting reflected the tourism revenue impact dollars in Caroline for 2007. These numbers are supplied by the Virginia Tourism Corporation and have been tracked throughout Virginia for years. These numbers were not presented as any type of county budget indicator, as they only monitor the income produced by the industry within the jurisdiction.

This table reflects the Caroline County section of the report:

County	($ Millions)	($ Millions)	(Thousands)	($ Millions)	($ Millions)
2007 (preliminary)				State Tax	Local Tax
	Expenditures	Payroll	Employment	Receipts	Receipts
CAROLINE	70.21	9.78	0.56	3.44	1.61

Caroline County collects transient occupancy taxes at a rate of 5% per each lodging occurrence. These are the only funds that support the Tourism program for the county. The local tax receipt figure reported above by the state for 2007 are a combination of lodging, meals, sales, fuel, and several other types of taxes, generated by that activity, not the amount of funds dedicated to the tourism budget in Caroline County.

Again, thank you for your inquiry regarding the tourism impact in Caroline. Although we will certainly see a decline in these revenue numbers due to the slowing economy, we hope tourism in Caroline County will continue to play an important role in new revenue spreading throughout the county.

Source: http://www.vatc.org/research/2007VACountyEstimates.xls

In English, Director Wilson is stating the Ms. Beard referenced the fact that the Virginia Tourism Corporation estimates the county received $1,6100,000 in taxes from tourism related industries. That would be seen in sales tax, gasoline taxes, and other taxes including TOT.

My follow-up:

Are you stating that Ms. Beard was misquoted by The Caroline Progress?

His response:

Ms. Beard was indeed misquoted.