A new state law allows counties to increase taxes on hotel stays.
But before making any changes, one county is re-evaluating how its tourism authority works.
We have more on what Clearfield County commissioners are now talking about.
More than a decade after it was established, commissioners say it may be time for some changes to the Clearfield County Recreation and Tourism Authority and the ordinance running it.
At a recent meeting, commissioners said they want to shrink the CCRTA board from nine people to either seven or five. The authority is also known as Visit Clearfield County.
They also want the county to take over several management issues they feel have monopolized the board’s time, allowing the CCRTA board to focus more on marketing the county to visitors.
“We’re a good 10 years into this and we just want to look at what we’re getting for the hotel tax that we’re collecting and investing,” says Commissioner Mark McCracken.
Since the agency was created around 2004, the treasurer said $5.4 million has been collected from hotel guests through a 3-percent tax on their bills.
Now, a new state law allows counties to collect up to 5-percent.
CCRTA executive director Holly Komonczi was still waiting to hear from commissioners about their plans.
“With Act 18 just being passed, there’s a lot of things that have to be looked at. I know that we’ve had to look at the sum of our grant programs and the way we were doing business, so a lot of things just have to start over and good time for a fresh start,” says Komonczi.
Commissioners say they want more control over the hotel tax money.
“We’re looking at what changes, because, again, a lot of counties are doing this now with the change in the law and as everybody said here today, it’s probably time to look at, refresh, update the ordinance anyway,” says McCracken.
“The way the law reads all the funds are to be submitted to the designated tourism promotion agency,” says Komonczi.
Treasurer Carol Fox told commissioners it can be time-consuming to contact hotels behind on their submittals.
Commissioners also had an idea of promoting the DuBois Regional Airport more, and said the law does allow marketing as a “business destination.” They are set to discuss this all of this more with the CCRTA.