Business leaders want voice on new Dunwoody board

Business leaders are lobbying the Dunwoody City Council to give the hotel and restaurant industries a major role in controlling thousands of dollars raised by the city’s hotel tax.

The council will decide, perhaps as early as next month, who will run the convention and visitors’ bureau, which will be financed with part of the room tax on Dunwoody’s five hotels.

The 5 percent tax is expected to raise about $1.282 million annually, with 40 percent of the revenue going to run the CVB and 60 percent going for city operations, said City Manager Warren Hutmacher.

Bob Dallas, a member of the Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce board, said he favors a nonprofit with a nine-member board, with three members named by the council, three by hoteliers and one each by the retail/restaurant industry, a city business organization and the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts.

At the other extreme, the council could create a city authority with all members appointed by the council.

“When it comes to economic development, let the experts get involved,” Dallas said Tuesday. “The hotel people cannot be outnumbered by the city people.”

Spurgeon Richardson, the recently retired leader of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, bolstered that argument during a Monday public hearing. “You need to run it like a business,” Richardson said.

Council member Denis Shortal didn’t say how he’d vote, but wanted to make sure the council didn’t lose control of the CVB.

“I’m always fearful of government, because government always tries to build empires,” Shortal said, “These dollars belong to the citizens of this city.”