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(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Visitors to the Food Truck Championship of Texas which in line for a bite to eat. The food truck competition is one of the largest events put on by the Visit Graham organizations, which had their budget approved this week by the Graham City Council.
Visit Graham CEO Cathy Partridge presented the proposed 2025-2026 budget for consideration Thursday, Sept. 25 during the Graham City Council meeting.
The budget, approved by the city council, is funded through events and city Hotel Occupancy Tax.
Hotel owners, operators and managers collect state hotel occupancy tax from their guests who rent a room or space in a hotel costing $15 or more each day, according to the Texas Comptroller’s office. The state collects 6% of the cost of the room while the city of Graham collects 7% of the cost of the room.
The total Hotel Occupancy Taxes collected for the city of Graham so far this year is $316,000. Visit Graham has budgeted for $247,000, which City Manager Eric Garretty said makes up less than half of the Visit Graham revenue.
“The city estimates it will transfer $247,000 to Visit Graham in fiscal year 2025-2026, which represents only 45% of the expense budget. Visit Graham raises well over half of its required expenses from fees, sales, sponsorships, and other event related revenue streams,” he said.
In the estimated 2025-2026 budget income side, the total income for Visit Graham is estimated at $571,550, with expenses set at $551,828.66. The budget estimates a net income of $19,721.34.
Visit Graham is estimating $154,050 in income from the Food Truck Championship of Texas, only $550 more than last year’s budget. Sponsorships make up the majority of the income at $97,500, with “beverage revenue” budgeted at $18,000, VIP concert tickets at $12,500, and beer sales at $4,000. The organization is also increasing the food truck entry fee from $250 to $300 for next year’s event, for a total budget from those fees set for $15,000.
“On food truck, we’ve added a couple of new revenue streams since we’ve moved to the downtown square for the concert. We expect to have a VIP area (next) year where people can buy seats. Our expectation is to have tables in that area so you could actually buy a VIP table for the concert,” Partridge said. “In years past, Visit Graham used to sell all the soft drinks and water, and at some point they took that away and let the food trucks start selling drinks and water. We’re going to take that back as a revenue stream, and I’ve calculated over the past years they did that and it came out to about $18,000. Now, we have to man it with volunteers, no doubt, but we’re trying to do everything we can to make some of these more profitable.”
On the expense side, Visit Graham is estimating $120,430, with $40,550 set aside for entertainment and sound, $12,000 for advertising and promotions, and $20,000 from the food truck winnings. This brings the net income from FTCTX to $33,620.
For Crawfish and Cannons, Visit Graham is estimating $111,500 in revenue, with $48,000 from sponsorships, $5,000 from merchandise sales and $58,000 from ticket sales.
Visit Graham is estimating $97,500 in expenses for the event, with $50,000 for bands and equipment, $15,000 for food, $3,000 for event merchandise, $5,000 for advertising and $16,000 in supplies and miscellaneous expenses.
Alongside Crawfish and Cannons, an estimated $24,000 in income is budgeted from the Goodnight Loving Run, with $6,000 from sponsorships and $18,000 from runner registration.
A total of $12,000 in expenses are estimated for the event, with $3,000 for merchandise, $2,800 for timing, and $2,000 for awards.
Major changes were made to the Summer Concert Series budget, with the income decreasing from last year’s $57,000 to $25,000, and expenses dropping from $89,400 to $50,600. The net loss on the budget is $25,600.
Partridge stated that the reason for the decreased budget is a reduction in the amount of concerts that will be offered next summer.
“One of the moves that the board has made is we plan on reducing the summer concerts to two concerts. We find it financially unfeasible to continue to do five. There’s very little revenue stream for that,” she said. “Free concerts are wonderful, but we thought we would do one around the July 4 celebration and then at the end of summer.”
Visit Graham also receives $10,000 from Young County annually in a contract for promotion of Fort Belknap. Under the Young County Fort Belknap tourism contract, the CVB is estimating a total of $8,000 in expenses, with $3,000 for social media and website and $5,000 for Young County Tourism signage and event promotion.
Visit Graham is estimating $20,000 in external event sponsorships and $66,379 in advertising. The total program and event expenses are estimated at $369,909.
The total operating expenses of the organization are estimated at $181,919.66, of which the biggest expense is $143,000 in contact payroll.
