On May 29, 2003, the City Council adopted two ordinances creating a special service district for water transportation to serve Hutchinson Island (“Water Transportation Tax”) and a special service district for convention transportation (“POR Fee”) to provide funding for convention-related transportation, operation of a water ferry system, and for other convention-related costs. The Water Transportation Tax levies an ad valorem tax of 0.2 mills within the portions of Hutchinson Island that are within the City’s municipal boundaries. This tax is restricted to funding the water ferry service operated by Chatham Area Transit (CAT) between Downtown and Hutchinson Island. The POR Fee assesses a nightly fee of $1.00 per occupied room upon hotels having 25 or more guest rooms within a designated area of Downtown known as the “Convention District” (the POR Fee for Hutchinson Island is $2.50 per night on occupied rooms). Pursuant to the enabling ordinance and the annual revenue ordinance, POR fees may be used to finance the costs of operating the water ferry system and for other convention-related costs, including transportation for city-wide conventions held at the Trade Center.

In 2005 the City developed a Visitor Mobility Plan to improve mobility and transportation management for visitors and residents of Downtown. In subsequent years the City contracted with Savannah Mobility Management, Inc. (SAMMI), an IRS 501(c)(6) organization, to provide oversight and administer POR Fee and Water Transportation Tax proceeds. The most recent agreement between the City and SAMMI expired on December 31, 2017. Prior to and since the agreement’s expiration, SAMMI, the City, CAT, Visit Savannah, and the Chamber of Commerce have been involved in protracted negotiations to streamline the distribution of funds and better define the responsibilities of the various parties to the agreement. As a result, Staff requests the City Council approve this agreement retroactive to January 1, 2018 and ending December 31, 2020.

Under the terms of this proposed agreement, the City will continue to collect funds and will distribute funds directly to the participating entities rather than through SAMMI. The participating entities are: CAT, Visit Savannah, City of Savannah, and the Chamber of Commerce. This agreement will continue to provide funding to CAT for operating the water ferry system and to Visit Savannah for the Convention Transportation Fund, which is used to cover the unique transportation costs of city-wide conventions. This year, the City’s Parking and Mobility Fund became solely responsible for costs associated with the downtown circulator bus service known as the dot Shuttle, rather than using POR Fees. Instead, the City will retain a percentage of POR Fees (18.9%) for “other convention-related costs” including but not limited to public infrastructure maintenance and improvement; public safety services; landscaping, sanitation services; and other public improvements and services with the Convention District. In addition, the agreement will provide funding to the Chamber of Commerce to help fund special events, holiday decorations, and community celebrations within the Convention District to maintain or improve upon the Convention District’s appeal to convention attendees and visitors.

For exact distributions of proceeds to the participating entities, please see Exhibit “C” of the proposed agreement.

Approval