Bill Haslam, Colin Reed headline appointments to new Nashville tourism board
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Former Gov. Bill Haslam and hospitality executive Colin Reed headline the influential civic leaders who will serve on the state's powerful new Nashville tourism board.
Why it matters: The board will be in charge of deciding how to spend millions of dollars sales tax dollars from the downtown tourism development zone (TDZ), which was created to help finance the Music City Center.
- The Joint Capital Tourism Board will spend the money on recruiting new tourism events and public safety initiatives.
Driving the news: The new state law creating the board gave top state officials the power to appoint board members. Gov. Bill Lee named his former aide Butch Eley and Haslam to the board.
- Lt. Gov. Randy McNally appointed former State. Sen. Dr. Steve Dickerson and Hospitality and Tourism Association CEO Sara Beth Urban.
- Speaker Cameron Sexton appointed downtown entertainment venue owner Bill Miller and Reed, the longtime CEO of Ryman Hospitality. The Nashville Business Journal first reported the appointments by Lee and Sexton.
- Music City Center CEO Charles Starks and Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. president and CEO Deana Ivey were automatically named to the board, according to the state legislation. Mayor Freddie O'Connell also will name his designee to the board.
Flashback: State and city leaders earmarked several tourism-related revenue streams, including the tourism development zone, to pay for the $623 million Music City Center.
- The TDZ captures sales tax growth in a broad area around the convention hall. Revenue collections have come in way higher than needed to pay for the debt on the building.
- Lawmakers passed a law this session to send $300 million in excess funds to Metro to pay for infrastructure obligations on the East Bank.
- The law also calls for small grants to help downtown businesses.