Do changing times call for a reallocation of resources?
One member of the Ketchum City Council is questioning how and where to spend limited public funds but still get the most bang for the city buck.
Funds to the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau were at issue Tuesday during a City Council meeting.
Councilman Steven Shafran questioned whether the city was getting the most for its money with the chamber allocation, which this fiscal year amounted to $431,000, or 30 percent of the chamber's income.
"My own sense is that the city's needs are changing," Shafran said. "It's incumbent on us to rethink how we want to spend our money."
He suggested the city revisit its economic and tourist development expenditures, which could result in redirecting a "substantial" amount of that money to the planning process, particularly for hotel development.
There are approximately seven potential hotel projects on Ketchum's horizon, he said.
"We owe it to ourselves to ask how we want to spend our money," he said.
The city of Ketchum has been revising ordinances in an effort to lure hotel development. The planning and design process with the city is a long one.
Shafran during a retreat last August brought up the idea of "zero-based budgeting." Corporations often use that budgeting method, wherein every few years, one or two departments start from scratch with their budget requests rather than using figures from the previous year and adding money to that. In that system, every expense has to be justified.
Carol Waller, the chamber's executive director, said Wednesday she hadn't heard about the idea to redirect funds and would need to know more about it before commenting.
Most of the money given to the chamber goes toward marketing, visitors' services, business support programs and helping promote special events, she said.
