CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Greenbrier and Glade Springs resorts, both owned and run by new Gov. Jim Justice and his family, are sitting out the latest round of advertising matching grants awarded by the state Division of Tourism.
Neither The Greenbrier nor Glade Springs has submitted grant applications for the funding year, confirmed Andrea Bond, communications specialist for the tourism division. Applications were due by Jan. 15. Justice was sworn in as governor Jan. 16.
Glade Springs hasn’t received a grant award since 2010. The Greenbrier has received the following awards in the last three years: $125,000 in 2016, $50,000 in 2015, and $100,000 in 2014.
How Justice would handle areas where his businesses intersect with the government has been one of the early themes of his administration.
Justice says he has put his daughter, Jill, in charge of The Greenbrier and his son, Jay, in charge of the family’s coal operations.
On Feb. 1, Justice submitted a financial disclosure form to the state Ethics Commission, detailing his business and financial interests.
While the form Justice submitted last spring identified the billionaire as chief executive officer of The Greenbrier, the updated form does not. The resort is listed among Justice’s sources of income over the past year and remains listed among his business holdings.
Early in his term, Justice addressed a letter to state employees about how he would handle his duties as governor versus his interests as a businessman.
“The last thing I want is a conflict of interest between my family’s businesses and state government. Even the slightest whiff of a conflict won’t fly with me,” he wrote.
Tourism has been one of the areas that Justice has emphasized during the campaign and early as governor. He says West Virginia has untapped potential for tourism growth.
Justice’s budget proposal would raise the beer barrel tax from $5.50 to $8 and raise the wholesale liquor mark up from 28 percent to 32 percent. Those moves are estimated to raise a total of $5.6 million to be dedicated to tourism.
“Now, tourism,” Justice said in his State of the State address. “Tourism is so important to our state. We can knock it out of the park, back double triple. We probably need to reorganize the entire Tourism Department. There’s ways to do that. And the other thing, you just got to simply put more money in it. We better find a way to market ourselves.”
The tourism division’s matching advertising partnership program allows state tourism businesses to match their advertising dollars through partnerships with other tourism businesses and the state.
Matches are based on the budgets of the applicants with their partners combined. The matching funds support efforts to promote West Virginia as a premier tourist destination.
As of June 2014, the MAPP deadlines have been revised from quarterly to twice a year. Deadlines are now Jan. 15 and Aug. 1 for awards in March and October, respectively.
For fiscal year 2017, the tourism division has $1.84 million in available funding.