TRUMBULL COUNTY Officials on visitors bureau: No funds means no contract

The commissioners want a judge to declare they can designate a new bureau.
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners say cutting off lodging tax funds to the county's Convention & amp; Visitors Bureau effectively ended the bureau's contract and its claim to the cash.
The visitors bureau wants about $320,000 from the county's 4 percent lodging tax to promote travel and tourism.
The commissioners and county Auditor David Hines, responding to a recent lawsuit filed by the visitors bureau, maintain in a filing by assistant Prosecutor Jason Earnhart that there is a breach of contract. Commissioners say the contract was in effect only as "so long as the bureau continues to receive the hotel-motel tax enacted by the county."
The last payment made to the bureau was in November 2003.
The bureau had received $428,530 in 2000, $433,000 in 2001, $414,920 in 2002 and $250,000 in 2003.
The court document states that the commissioners and visitors bureau never agreed on a requested $300,000 budget for 2004.
Instead, the commissioners in March decided to give the tax proceeds to the Western Reserve Port Authority. Previously the bureau and the port authority had split the tax proceeds.
The commissioners seek a court declaration that they are authorized under Ohio law to designate all or part of that tax money to the port authority.
New bureau wanted
On July 8, commissioners passed a resolution that provided a 60-day notice of termination of the contract, their response notes.
The commissioners cut off the bureau's funds upon learning that it had set aside $200,000 in an account. Commissioners claim that's also a violation of the defunct contract because the lodging tax proceeds shouldn't be used for investment purposes.
Also, they claim only commissioners can appoint people to the bureau's board. Visitors bureau board members in February named two new members.
The commissioners seek a court declaration that they can designate another private, nonprofit agency or government agency as the recognized convention and visitors bureau in Trumbull County.
The commissioners ask Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to rule in their favor.