TRUMBULL COUNTY Officials to OK payment to visitors bureau

Auditors have not found big problems at the convention bureau, one official says.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners are expected to approve a $100,000 payment to the county convention and visitors bureau today, about six months after cutting all funding to the organization.
The money will be used to pay the bureau's rent and overhead and allow it to make a $27,500 contribution to support the local Ladies Professional Golf Association event this summer, said bureau chairman Richard Alberini.
Commissioners cut off funding to the bureau last year after they learned it had accumulated more than $200,000 in savings.
"The money that we were supposed to be hiding from them is almost all gone," Alberini said.
The county commissioners are holding on to about $242,000 in bed tax revenue that can't be used for anything but tourism promotion. The $100,000 payment is expected to come out of that pot, which is expected to be depleted by the end of the year.
"The convention bureau has been working very hard, and they were entitled to the $100,000," said Commissioner James Tsagaris, who had been the bureau's harshest critic.
Audit
Commissioners are still waiting for final results of the $15,000 audit they called for after discovering the convention bureau's savings. However, they participated in a meeting with auditors to discuss preliminary results in March.
"They didn't find any big findings yet," commissioner Joseph J. Angelo Jr. said. "I don't figure any problems coming from the audit."
Funding for the bureau is uncertain beyond this year. In March, commissioners decided to no longer collect bed tax money to support tourism, but to divert the funds to the Western Reserve Port Authority instead.
Commissioners say they could re-allocate bed tax proceeds to the convention bureau when it becomes necessary.
siff@vindy.com