It was only a matter of time until the Fountain Hills tourism effort imploded. Not surprisingly, the problem is money. The Tourism Bureau was forced to make an annual appeal for funding to both the town and Fort McDowell.

Not knowing what money you’ll have from one year to the next is a problem.

Bed tax collected from guests in local hotels flows into the general fund of the town. The council then subjectively decides how to spend those dollars including the annual moving-target stipend for the Tourism Bureau, a process that invites personalities and politics into the decision. The process at Fort McDowell is even more obtuse.

If tourism matters, and it really does in a town that has no industry other than retail, the council should legislate a significant percentage of the bed tax to fund it. And hire or create a Visitors Bureau that is responsible to the town but operates independently from the Chamber of Commerce.

Fountain Hills partnered with the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau for seven years, investing $30,000 in 2001-2002 to $60,000 in 2007-2008. In return, Fountain Hills enjoyed national and international exposure and branding with Scottsdale, leveraging the SCVB’s considerable expertise and $10 million-plus budget.

Paradise Valley will invest around $1,000,000 this year in a similar SCVB partnership.

Five years ago, our Tourism Bureau severed the relationship with the SCVB, reasoning that it could get more bang for the $60,000 by disassociating itself from Scottsdale and the SCVB. How’s that going?

Sorry, but our vision of “tourism” can’t be a busload of seniors watching the Fountain, a 10- minute curiosity. Tourism is about high-value heads in beds, thereby generating even more bed tax and sales tax revenue through restaurants, retail, golf and the downstream activity in residential and commercial real estate.