Editor’s note: The author, Mark Scott, was hired May 9, 2016, to be the joint director of Market MontGOmery Chamber & Tourism and the Montgomery Tourism Development Authority. In October 2017, the TDA and Mark were told that he would no longer direct that agency. Since then, no one has been hired to replace him in that role. He remains director of Market MontGOmery Chamber & Tourism.

The Montgomery County commissioners voted Tuesday night to repeal the county’s occupancy tax legislation.

What does that mean?

When someone spends the night for temporary lodging in Montgomery County, a 3 percent tax is currently added to the cost of their room. So, for a $100 room, the occupant pays an additional $3. The total of these receipts for a year is currently about $40,000. As new hotels are built, that number would escalate.

That money goes to the county. The statute says, “Montgomery County shall, on a quarterly basis, remit the net proceeds of the occupancy tax to the Montgomery Tourism Development Authority. The Authority shall use at least two-thirds of the funds remitted to it under this subsection to promote travel and tourism in Montgomery County and shall use the remainder for tourism-related expenditures.”

It defines “promote travel and tourism” as: “To advertise or market an area or activity, publish and distribute pamphlets and other materials, conduct market research, or engage in similar promotional activities that attract tourists or business travelers to the area; the term includes administrative expenses incurred in engaging in these activities.”

Across a great many cities and counties in the state, such money is used for way-finding and signage that informs and directs visitors to places like historic landmarks, lakes, state parks, farmers’ markets, restaurants, shopping, public transportation, etc.

That is exactly what the Montgomery Tourism Development Authority wanted to do with the money and started looking into that two years ago, but the authority has been told by county administration they cannot do that.

The county administration has now gone as far as to pass a resolution Tuesday night to ask the state to repeal the occupancy tax so that the county, at its own expense, can hire a marketing firm to decide how to go forward promoting Montgomery County. That was done without consulting the executive director of North Carolina Tourism nor any of the professional groups like the North Carolina Travel Industry Association to get advice.

Unfortunately, that means the tax will NOT come from people spending nights in area lodging, but will come from Montgomery County expenses – which means the local taxpayer.

There have been statistics that show for every dollar spent promoting tourism in North Carolina, it generates anywhere from $3 to $5 in visitor spending. By repealing this occupancy tax Montgomery County will be missing out on the $40,000 per year and, in the near future, possibly as much as $100,000 per year when new hotels are built. That money could have been spent promoting the area and would have potentially yielded several hundred thousand dollars annually in visitor spending.