YOUNGSTOWN New hotel, motel council to discuss bed-tax plan

The council will also talk to county commissioners about other related issues.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Hotel and motel owners in Mahoning County have united to repeal a proposed increase in the county's lodging tax.
They have formed the Mahoning County Lodging Council, which is a local chapter of the Ohio Hotel & amp; Lodging Association. The new council's first initiative will be to meet with county commissioners Wednesday about the impact of a bed tax increase.
Barton H. Hacker, public affairs director of the state organization, said it's important for the hotel and motel operators to have a single voice in speaking against the proposed bed tax increase.
"The more people you can represent, the more powerful your voice," said Hacker, who also is director of the local lodging council. He said the group will eventually elect a local chairman.
Local lawmakers recently helped get state legislation approved to allow Mahoning and Trumbull counties to increase the bed tax by up to 2 percentage points.
The legislation also allows commissioners to take control away from local convention and visitors bureaus over the current bed tax -- 3 percent in Mahoning and 2.5 percent in Trumbull. Commissioners could use the money to fund the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.
Local concern
Local hotel and motel operators have expressed concern that such an increase would make Mahoning County's bed tax one of the highest in the state, discouraging people from renting rooms here.
Commissioners also want the Mahoning County Convention and Visitors Bureau to make a one-time, $50,000 contribution this year toward operating the airport, which the bureau has resisted. Hacker said his group will help fight that measure as well.
County Administrator Gary Kubic said commissioners have not yet decided whether to impose the additional bed tax. They first want to hear from the lodging council and to meet with their colleagues in Trumbull County.
Hacker said the Mahoning County chapter, with 36 members, is the third-largest hotel and lodging association chapter in Ohio. There are chapters in Cleveland, Columbus, Akron, Dayton and Cincinnati, and one that takes in about a 10-county region in the Hocking Hills area in southeastern Ohio.
The state group charges its members annual dues of $8.90 per room, Hacker said. The county visitors bureau has agreed to pay those dues for the first year.
"Our decision to pay the membership dues for hotels in Mahoning County is our good faith effort to maintain positive relations with the hotel community and assist the hotel industry in getting better organized," said Tom Lyden, bureau executive director.
bjackson@vindy.com