MAHONING AND TRUMBULL COUNTIES Commissioners consider merging convention bureaus

A Trumbull County commissioner is willing to reconsider the issue.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- With the convention and visitors bureaus of Mahoning and Trumbull counties in states of flux, the time to look at merging the two agencies is now, Mahoning County Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock said.
Toward the end of Friday's Mahoning County commissioners meeting, Sherlock said the merger idea, shot down last year by Trumbull officials, should be revisited.
"So many times we talk of regionalization, and this is the perfect opportunity for the two counties to do something together," she said. "I've drafted a letter to revisit the issue and see what we're going to do."
Willing to talk
Trumbull Commissioner James G. Tsagaris said he would be willing to talk about merging, but doesn't know if the two counties can legally combine their convention and visitors bureaus.
In October 2003, Mahoning commissioners stopped funding the Youngstown/Mahoning County CVB with bed-tax revenue. At the time, the CVB had a $600,000 cash reserve. It is less than $450,000 now, and that money is being used to promote travel and tourism.
Mahoning assesses a 3 percent tax on all hotel and motel rooms rented in the county. The facilities collect the tax and send a check to the county.
The county gives one-third of the money, about $150,000 annually, to a second CVB, a board the commissioners created, and the rest -- about $300,000 annually -- to the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.
In Trumbull, a 4 percent bed tax is collected; all of it goes to the airport, and none to the county's CVB. Tsagaris said he is not satisfied with the job done by the Trumbull CVB, and wants another agency to be hired to promote tourism for the county.
Voted against contract
Earlier this month, Trumbull commissioners voted to eliminate its contract with the bureau, which has a cash reserve of about $300,000.
In recent years, Mahoning and Trumbull commissioners have struggled to fund the airport. A law pushed through the state Legislature last year by state Sen. Marc Dann of Liberty, D-32nd, permits the two counties to use bed-tax money to fund the Vienna-based airport.
"I'm hoping this is an idea [Trumbull commissioners] would like to revisit," Sherlock said. "We're both limited in funds and it makes sense to look at merging the two bureaus. Hopefully something will be done by December."
The "December" statement by Sherlock is a reference to the last full month she and two other commissioners will serve in office. Sherlock and Mahoning Commissioner Ed Reese opted not to run for re-election, and Trumbull Commissioner Joseph J. Angelo Jr. lost the Democratic primary. Come January, half of the six commissioner seats in the two counties will be filled by new people.
skolnick@vindy.com