SALINA — On Monday, August 11 at 4:00 PM, the Salina City Commission will hold a public hearing to discuss the proposed 2026 city budget, including a $1,140,000 request from the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce to fund its Visit Salina initiatives. The hearing, taking place in Room 107 of the City/County Building at 300 West Ash Street, is open to the public and serves as a key opportunity for citizens to comment on how public funds are allocated in the coming fiscal year.
The proposed Visit Salina budget for 2026 holds steady with no change from the 2025 total request. The funding is drawn from the city’s transient guest tax and supports three main Chamber-administered programs:
Program Areas and Requested Amounts for 2026:
- Visit Salina / Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB): $799,500
- Community Marketing Program: $375,000
- CARM (Cultural Arts Regional Marketing) Grant Program: $150,000
- Total Request: $1,140,000
These programs are part of a formal agreement signed in 2025 between the City of Salina and the Chamber, which outlined the responsibilities for using transient guest tax funds. The Chamber is required to submit a detailed annual budget as part of this arrangement.
Revenue Sources for 2026 (Unchanged from 2025):
- Transient Guest Tax: $750,000 (Visit Salina)
- Transient Guest Tax – Community Marketing: $240,000
- Transient Guest Tax – CARM Grants: $150,000
- Saline County: $30,000
- SCEDO (Salina Community Economic Development Organization): $25,000
- Salina Downtown: $5,000
- Chamber of Commerce Contribution: $100,000
- Visit Salina Reserve Fund: $0
- Project Activities: $49,500
- Total Revenue: $1,140,000
Detailed 2026 Program Expenses:
Visit Salina/CVB:
- Digital & Print Tourism Advertising: $100,000
- Billboards: $48,000
- Convention Marketing: $50,000
- Convention Services: $18,000
- Sports/Special Events Marketing: $100,000
- Sports/Special Events Services: $93,500
- Website Development: $0
- Research & Analytics: $25,000
- Special Projects (River Festival, Air Service Marketing): $13,000
- Visitor-Centric Public Facilities (City transfer): $25,000
- Subtotal Program Expenses: $472,500
Community Marketing:
- Website Development: $13,857
- Research & Analytics: $16,386
- Subtotal: $30,243 (Down from $155,313 in 2025)
CARM Grant Program:
- CARM Grants: $150,000 (No change from 2025)
Administrative, Staff, and Facility Costs (All Programs Combined):
- Administrative / General Expenses: $76,361
- $32,855 (Visit Salina), $21,903 (Community Marketing), and the remainder covered under a split arrangement
- Staff Expenses: $732,224
- $406,288 (Visit Salina), $325,936 (Community Marketing)
- Building Expenses: $54,838
- $32,920 (Visit Salina), $21,918 (Community Marketing)
- Total Combined Program & Overhead Expenses: $1,144,563
Net Fund Impact:
Despite a balanced revenue plan, the Chamber projects a deficit of $170,063 in 2026:
- Visit Salina: –$145,063
- Community Marketing: –$25,000
- CARM Grants: $0 (break-even)
This would reduce the Chamber’s anticipated reserve fund balance from $740,447 at the end of 2025 to $595,384 by the end of 2026.
Context on the Transient Guest Tax:
The transient guest tax in Salina is set at 7.75 cents per dollar, and is distributed as follows:
- 3 cents – Visit Salina (Chamber)
- 0.5 cents – CARM (Chamber)
- 2.2 cents – Tony’s Pizza Events Center (Operations and Marketing)
- 1 cent – TPEC Capital Improvements
- 1.05 cents – Baseball Improvements
Prior to 2025, Visit Salina and the Chamber were funded directly from their assigned percentage of the transient guest tax. Under the new agreement adopted last year, the funds are now subject to an annual budget proposal and approval process.
Historical Context:
The funding request for 2026 matches that of 2025, though there are notable internal shifts in spending priorities, especially the dramatic decrease in community marketing program expenses. Since 2016, total budget allocations for Visit Salina operations have steadily grown, despite pandemic-related disruptions in 2020 and 2021.
Public Participation Encouraged:
Citizens interested in the allocation of tax dollars—particularly for tourism, cultural programming, and community marketing—are encouraged to attend the August 11 public hearing. Comments and questions from the public will be heard prior to final commission deliberation on the 2026 budget.
Meeting Details:
Date: Monday, August 11, 2025
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Room 107, City/County Building, 300 W. Ash St., Salina, KS
This is one of the few formal opportunities the public has to provide direct input on the final city budget before adoption.
Additional Context on the Transient Guest Tax (TGT) and Visit Salina’s Role in Economic Impact
It’s important to note that the Transient Guest Tax (TGT) is paid by visitors to the Salina community, not by residents. Under Kansas statute, TGT funds can only be used for convention and tourism promotion, which includes:
- Marketing activities aimed at attracting visitors, such as advertising targeted at one or more of the five key market segments: group tours, leisure travelers, association meetings and conventions, trade shows, and corporate meetings.
- Supporting organizations and activities that drive increased occupancy of local lodging facilities.
The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce has maintained a long-standing agreement with the City of Salina to administer convention and tourism services through Visit Salina, using TGT revenue. In 2024, Visit Salina estimates that more than 80,000 visitors came to the community through various market segments including sports and special events, agriculture, meetings and conventions, and government/military travel. The total estimated economic impact from this visitor traffic was approximately $33 million, based on overall spending patterns.
According to data from the Kansas Department of Revenue, Salina’s TGT revenue was $2,181,135 in FY 2019. Despite the downturn during the COVID-19 pandemic, the revenue has since rebounded and surpassed pre-pandemic levels, reaching $2,874,225 in FY 2025.
By comparison, the Chamber’s tourism-related budget increased from $1,046,945 in 2019 to $1,140,000 in 2025. This represents a 32% increase in TGT revenue, supported by only a 9% increase in the Chamber’s budget.
“We are very proud of the economic impact that Visit Salina and our convention and tourism services provide this community, and the growth of the tourism and hospitality industry here in Salina over the years. We feel like the data clearly reflects the value that this organization brings to our community. We look forward to seeing the community marketing program supplementing that success by continuing to elevate our marketing and digital assets.”
— Renee Duxler, MSW, CEcD, President & CEO, Salina Area Chamber of Commerce