43
Trumbull raises hotel/motel tax by 1 percent
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Trumbull County commissioners increased the amount of the hotel/ motel tax by 1 percent this week to provide the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport with about $125,000 per year in additional revenue.
The tax provided the airport with about $225,000 to $250,000 last year. That is expected to climb to around $375,000 annually after the new tax, said Adrian Biviano, county auditor. The new tax is likely to begin collections in April.
In July, airport and Mahoning County officials met with Trumbull commissioners regarding airport funding.
Mahoning County officials pointed out the disparity between Trumbull and Mahoning counties in the amount their hotel/motel taxes were providing to the airport, and airport officials discussed the need for more revenue.
The two counties were providing the airport with about $400,000 each in operating revenue per year in 2005, but Trumbull’s hotel/motel tax collections dropped by nearly half in the years since then.
Airport officials have asked Mahoning County to increase its funding to the airport by increasing its hotel/motel tax also by 1 percent.
Trumbull Commissioner Paul Heltzel said it was his intention to see both counties contribute equally to the financial support of the facility.
Trumbull Commissioner Frank Fuda said Thursday the airport needs the additional money to function effectively, and the county doesn’t have the additional money in its general fund to provide it.
Fuda noted the additional hotel/motel tax won’t affect most residents of Trumbull County, only those people staying in hotels and motels.
“We have to keep that airport solid, especially when we get sewers extended to the airport,” Fuda said, explaining that the sewer lines coming north out of Liberty likely will increase economic development on the airport property.
Fuda said he didn’t think the additional 1 percent tax will have “any effect on where people will stay” or on Trumbull County tourism in general.
A.J. Patel, owner of the Comfort Inn on Park Avenue in downtown Warren, however, said he thinks it could have a negative effect because “people are managing every penny now. They’ll notice.”
A room at the Comfort Inn costing $100 will cost an additional $1 after the tax goes into effect.
The county’s current hotel/motel tax is 4 percent — 2 percent going to the airport and the remainder going to the Trumbull County Tourism Bureau.
After the increase goes into effect, the airport will get 3 percent; the tourism bureau’s share will remain at 2 percent.