Visitors Bureau pulls Mountain Laurel's hotel room tax support

Mount Laurel Performing Arts Center has lost all of its funding from the four-county bed tax revenues, Pike County officials were stunned to learn this week. Mount Laurel has received $2.7 million in the past three years, but the troubled facility will get nothing now, the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau board decided earlier this month. “The center was funded on the premise it would benefit tourism,” said Ed Mayotte, president of the PMVB. “All the good intentions did not materialize. The money was intended to help the arts center be successful, “ Mayotte said. “We will reinvest the money now to promote the region.” In 2007 the four-county bed tax produced approximately $4.5 million, and the grants to Mount Laurel comprised some 20 percent of the total bed taxes collected each year. Carl Wilgus, new executive director of the visitors bureau, said Pike County collected $622,000 in the first three quarters of 2007, and the visitors bureau kept $323,000, returning the balance to the county. The bed tax revenues are collected for the visitors bureau by Pike, Monroe, Wayne and Carbon counties. A percentage of the totals raised are returned to counties for their local tourist promotion efforts. Mount Laurel, which is located in Pike County, has been beset by problems, including curtailed schedules and sparse attendance. Introduction of the bed tax was controversial in Pike, where some said the visitors bureau was ineffective. Its approval by the Pike commissioners was tied in part to the support that Mountain Laurel would receive. Pike commissioner’s Chair Richard A. Caridi said Wednesday that the funding cutoff was news to him. “I’ve heard little talk about it,” he said. “You know more than I do. They didn’t call me.” When asked about what the impact on Pike County tourism might be, Caridi said, “We’ll all be talking about it tomorrow.” A memorandum of understanding between PMVB and Mt. Laurel outlining the support level for the past three years expires this spring. Mayotte, president of Skytop Lodge, indicated that the funds saved by cutting out Mount Laurel will be used by the visitors bureau for such regional initiatives like “coming up with a new vision for the Poconos as a tourist destination and rebranding.” In the first three quarters of 2007 some $622,000 was collected from bed taxes in Pike County, and, Wilgus said, $299,000 was returned to Pike County for its own tourist promotion. In addition, each county keeps two percent of the tax receipts for collection expenses. Approximately $4.5 million was raised in 2007 by the tax.