Clovis Lodgers Tax Board Meeting - July 14, 2026
Clovis Lodgers Tax Board Meeting - July 14, 2026
The Clovis Lodgers Tax Board met on July 14, 2026, to discuss the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget and consider funding requests from various community organizations. The meeting began with a financial overview presented by staff, followed by presentations from applicants and concluded with board deliberation and approvals.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the minutes from the March 10, 2026 meeting. (Motion by Thomas Martin, seconded by Latasha Padilla; all voted in favor.)
Discussion Items
- Financial Overview: Staff reported a cash balance of $227,932.95 carried over from FY26, with $153,000 in carryovers for previously approved but unspent events, leaving an available balance of $74,932.95. An additional $289,985.50 is budgeted for the current fiscal year, bringing total available for distribution to $364,918.45. Allocations would allow $60,819.74 per meeting. With $195,932 in requests, the remaining balance for future meetings would be $168,986.45 ($33,797.29 per bi-monthly meeting).
- Applicant Presentations: Eleven organizations presented funding requests:
- Curry County Event Center (Curry County Fair): Requested an additional $35,000 (total $55,000) to expand entertainment, including rodeos, a ZZ Top tribute band, a community talent show, and a country concert. Estimated 240 room nights from vendors alone.
- Desert Cruisers Car Club: Requested $5,000 for a car show on September 11-12, expecting 120+ cars with half of participants pre-registering online.
- Clovis Lions Club: Requested $13,000 for a gun show on October 23-25, expecting 75-100 vendors and 1,400-1,800 attendees.
- New Mexico Rodeo Association: Requested funding for a year-end rodeo on October 2-3, with 150 contestants (300-350 including families). Past funding used for branded jackets; requested additional funds for saddles with Clovis logo.
- Curry County Chamber of Commerce Event Coordinator: Requested full funding for the position, highlighting support for flag football tournaments and community events.
- New Mexico Livability (New Mexico Magazine ad): Requested $4,000 for a full-page ad promoting tourism and businesses in Clovis.
- Clovis Main Street (Light Parade): Requested $10,000 for the Christmas parade, reporting 19,790 attendees in 2024, with 272 staying in hotel rooms. Plans to expand advertising with flags and digital promotion.
- Clovis Main Street (Great Blocks Party): Requested $3,000 for a new event launching a $3.4 million downtown revitalization project, inviting state officials and featuring live music and a night market.
- Clovis Community College (Cultural Arts Series): Requested $3,000 for the first show of the season, noting past events drew up to 800 attendees.
- Joe Whitehurst Memorial Shoot: Requested $2,472 for a three-day trap shooting event, with advertising through social media and shooting associations, and prizes including branded items.
Key Outcomes
- The board approved funding for all requests, totaling $90,972 (exceeding the per-meeting allocation but with plans to tighten future budgets). Approved amounts:
- Curry County Fair: $20,000
- Desert Cruisers Car Club: $2,500
- Clovis Lions Club: $6,000
- New Mexico Rodeo Association Finals: $10,000
- Event Coordinator (fully funded): $35,000
- New Mexico Guide ad: $4,000
- Christmas Parade: $8,000 (with option to return for more in September)
- Great Blocks Party: $2,000 (with option to return for more in September)
- Cultural Arts Series: $3,000
- Joe Whitehurst Memorial Shoot: $2,472 (fully funded)
- Motion to approve funding by Thomas Martin, seconded by Jonathan Nelson; all voted in favor.
- The board reminded applicants not to spend funds until final approval by the city commission on July 20, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. We're gonna go ahead and get started with the uh closed lodgers tax for July the fourteenth. Um I get a real call. Thomas Martin, Freddie Bryant? Here. Mayor Pretem Garza. Here. Tasha Padilla. Here. Melly Perthner. Here. Jonathan Nelson. Here. That takes care of real cool. Um, we'll get approval minutes from March Tenth. Uh, meeting. If I can get a uh second. Now with the first. And Latasha with the second. Okay. On a new business. Mr. How are you? I'm sorry. What? All in favor. My fault. Sorry. All in favor. Aye. Okay. So approved. Okay. New business. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, absolutely. So obviously it's a new fiscal year, so you guys can feel like uh SACO potentially. Um but the cash balance at the end of FY26, we had 227,932 and 95 cents carried over to this year. Uh the carryovers that we had from uh events that we had already approved but had yet to spend their money where they weren't until after the fiscal year was 153,000. So that left you with an available balance uh to begin the year with of 74,932 and 95 cents. Of course, uh we have already budgeted uh for this year. Uh we're budgeting for the lodgers tax promotional funds, an additional two hundred and eighty-nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-five dollars and fifty cents uh for this fiscal year. Of course, we adjust that as we have actual numbers coming in uh and we plug those in uh from for each month as we go throughout our meetings of this year. That brings your available for distribution currently uh for this fiscal year of $364,918 and forty-five cents. Uh how that breaks down based off of our uh allocations uh would be uh allocating sixty thousand dollars eight hundred and nineteen uh and seventy-four cents for each one of the meetings. Uh tonight you have a hundred and ninety-five thousand nine hundred and thirty-two dollars uh worth of requests with if you fully allocated all of that. Uh that would leave you with an available balance for the remaining of the year of $168,986.45 cents. Uh broken down to the remaining bi-monthly meetings would be $33,797 and 29 cents. So uh with that, Mr.
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