Mercer Co. commissioners OK raise in hotel excise tax

MERCER, Pa. -- Guests in county hotels and bed-and-breakfasts will be paying an additional percentage of bed tax.
Mercer County commissioners unanimously raised the hotel excise tax from 2 percent to 3 percent when they met Thursday. Commissioner Olivia Lazor said they took the action because a recent change in state law allows them to do so. Proceeds go to the Mercer County Convention and Visitors Bureau for tourism promotion.
They also agreed to allow bed-and-breakfasts to file the taxes quarterly instead of monthly, because of their lower volume of business.
Also Thursday, commissioners approved the creation of the Northwest Behavioral Health Partnership Inc. in which Mercer will cooperate with five other counties to provide Medicaid and other behavioral health services to their residents. The other counties in the cooperative are Venango, Crawford, Clarion, Forest and Warren.
The cooperative is part of a new state welfare department mandate. Under it, the organization will contract with a managed care organization to provide the services. Lazor said that while clients will not notice much difference, the system will be more efficient than the current setup. It starts in January 2004.
Commissioners accepted a $5,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for the Clerk of Courts Office. The grant is for preservation of dockets and original papers.