Arts Council Silicon Valley is concerned that San Martin's proposed incorporation will jeopardize as much as $200,000 in annual funding that currently comes from the county, roughly 20 percent of its budget.
The San Jose-based non-profit organization, which supports arts services and education in all of Santa Clara County, receives funding from donations and fundraising but Executive Director Bruce Davis said its general funding from the county fluctuates according to Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenue the county collects from hotels like CordeValle Rosewood Resort in San Martin.
With CordeValle being within the proposed boundaries for San Martin, that tax taken by the county from hotels for making services available to tourists would be collected by the new town, instead.
Morgan Hill artist Wes Rolley complained to the Arts Council about an article its President David Sandal wrote on this concern in its newsletter The Partner, which Rolley believed laid unfair blame on San Martin for including CordeValle within its proposed borders.
"I took an adversarial stance since there are many good reasons for incorporation," said Rolley, who's a Times columnist. "What San Martin does or doesn't do shouldn't have anything to do with whether Arts Council gets its money from CordeValle or not."
Josh Russell, communications manager for the Arts Council, said the agency has taken no formal position on San Martin's incorporation and the article was simply informing people on the issue.
Davis said he has had no formal conversations with the county about making up the funding difference in the event of incorporation, but he has informally talked with his board about preparing for a budget cut 15 months in the future.
"When (the TOT) goes up, the funding goes up, and when it goes down, like after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, (it) effected tourism, our funding goes down," said Davis. "When the TOT dropped $100,000 after 9/11 we reduced expenses and cut staff by 20 percent for 2002."
Richard van't Rood, a leader of San Martin's incorporation effort, said the proposed town's $3 million annual budget cannot afford to use that tax money to fund the Arts Council.
"This is another county tactic of blowing out of proportion funding that might be lost," van't Rood said.
Tom Risen
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