Hotel taxes equal marketing money

By DAVID HULSE

MILFORD, PA — After years of fighting a hotel tax, tourism interests in Pike County have decided that they need revenues to maintain their marketplace.

Former Governor Tom Ridge signed authorizing legislation for a county-imposed hotel tax in 2000 to provide regional tourism marketing money, but Pocono-region hotel owners fought its imposition, fearing the increased room charges would drive business away.

Tourism-related business is Pike County’s biggest economic engine, providing 6,200 jobs and a $100 million annual payroll.

John Kiesendahl, owner of the Woodloch Pines resort and a member of the board of directors of the Pocono Mountain Vacation Bureau (PMVB), told the Pike County Commissioners last week that since 2000, “there has been a lot of change,” and hotel owners are supporting the measure.

Kiesendahl said Pocono hotel owners are now experiencing difficulty in filling vacancies during mid-week periods and that other Pennsylvania regions, which have embraced the hotel tax, have cut into the Pocono’s market share. Only nine counties in Pennsylvania have failed to institute the tax, and the PMVB’s four member counties, Carbon, Monroe, Pike and Wayne, are among that number.

In addition, Kiesendahl said that casino resorts, coming to the Catskills in the next two years, will provide even more competition for that shrinking market share. “We’re at a distinct disadvantage,” Kiesendahl said.

After an “intense” discussion of the pros and cons, the PMVB’s board voted unanimously to support the tax and has begun lobbying for it, he said. “What’s good for tourism is good for Pike County,” he argued.

The tax is forecasted to raise $3 million in the region, with some $778,000 coming from Pike County, said PMVB Deputy Executor Mathilda Sheptak. Pike County would collect a two-percent share, up to $40,000, of the revenues for administering the tax, she added.

Including state funding and cooperative programs, PMVB’s current budget is between $4 million and $5 million. New tax revenues would double marketing funds, Kiesendahl said.

Sheptak said Monroe County has had a public hearing on the measure and that PMVB is “moving” with all four counties to press for the tax adoption. The bureau expects to start receiving revenues from the tax in 2005.

Kiesendahl said the Inn at Woodloch Pines, in conjunction with the Pike and Wayne chambers of commerce, will be hosting a conference to detail the benefits of the tax. “The tax is not understood. We need to get information out to garner public support,” he said.

The tax would not charged be on stays of 30 days or more and would not apply to campground stays.

The commissioners took no position on the tax, and commissioners’ chair Harry Forbes said there was “a lot to be looked at and ironed out.” However, he emphasized that the new tax would be specifically for tourism, “not just a pot of money to be used for anything and everything.”

There were questions. “How about traffic?” one resident asked. “Does this mean we’re going to have gridlock on the roads mid-week as well as on the weekends?”

Sheptak said new marketing money would be aimed at “non-peak” traffic times.