2021-07-12 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                     12 JULY 2021


   The above agreements were entered into by SCRC prior to amalgamation and effectively
   transferred to Noosa Council on de-amalgamation on 1 January 2014.
   On 1 July 2015, Noosa Council terminated the RTO funding agreement with SCDL and at that
   time, Council and Tourism Noosa entered into a new 2 year funding agreement that added an
   extra $500,000 of funding to Tourism Noosa to their previous funding level. This agreement
   allowed Tourism Noosa to determine the extent of funding they wished to allocate to regional
   tourism opportunities and projects via the RTO.
   Also, at the end of the 2015 calendar year, the sponsorship agreement with Ironman Australia
   concluded and the $270,000 triathlon sponsorship funding was allocated to Tourism Noosa
   from 2016 for Tourism Noosa to liaise directly with Ironman Australia to determine sponsorship
   arrangements for the Noosa Triathlon.
   On 1 July 2017, Noosa Council entered into a further agreement with Tourism Noosa for
   funding. This was a 3 year agreement with a two year option (which was subsequently
   exercised) and expires on 30 June 2022. The key elements of this agreement were:-
       Total annual funding of $2.52M was provided and the term of the funding agreement was
        linked to the then Noosa Tourism Strategy 2017-22 (hence the total 5 year term).
       The funding agreement provided that the annual funding could not be reduced, thus
        providing certainty of funding for Tourism Noosa to allow for multi-year planning.
       The agreement required Tourism Noosa to maintain a marketing cash contingency of
        $350,000. Essentially, this was to ensure that Tourism Noosa maintained a cash reserve
        in its bank account that could be used in the case of an unforeseen event. Potential
        examples that were given at the time included a pilot strike, weed infestation on main
        beach, major weather events etc. As it turned out, a worldwide pandemic was the trigger
        for that contingency reserve being accessed in 2020. In hindsight, including this
        requirement in the 2017 agreement at that time was a good initiative.
       Improved reporting requirements including:
             Providing an annual report (including a copy of the audited financial statements) to
              Council by 30 November each year. These are reported to Council each year to
              ensure that these are a matter of public record.
             Providing an annual Business Plan to Council by 15 March each year. These
              Business Plans include detailed financial information including a statement of
              comprehensive income, statement of financial position and statement of cash flows
              and key performance measures that link to the Tourism Strategy Noosa 2017–
              2022.
             Twice a year (in February and August) Tourism Noosa were required to present to
              Councillors on their progress in relation to their activities, KPIs, financial progress
              and generally to keep the Councillors informed about Tourism Noosa’s activities.
              This has generally been undertaken over the life of the agreement except for some
              periods during the pandemic.
   Over the life of the 2017-2022 agreement, $12.6M of funding has been allocated to Tourism
   Noosa making this one of Council’s most significant financial agreements.

   2.   Proposed Timing and Process for finalising a new Funding Agreement
   The current funding agreement expires on 30 June 2022. Tourism Noosa have expressed a
   desire to finalise a new agreement as soon as practical. This certainly makes sense as it
   provides funding certainty for forward planning in future years for both Council and Tourism
   Noosa.
   The proposed process to negotiate a new agreement is as follows:
       Timing – it is anticipated that a new funding agreement could be agreed to between

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