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Commission hears tourism budget adjustments: rebranding scaled back, TRT transfer discussed
Summary
Beaver County tourism staff proposed trimming an external rebranding contract and keeping web/SEO work in 2026; commissioners discussed a $170,000 transfer from restaurant tax into the transient room tax (TRT) fund and the county’s $98,000 special events line and $8,000 new-event seed money.
Beaver County tourism staff presented the 2026 budget request and described a proposed scaling back of an external rebranding project while retaining website and search‑engine optimization work and video production.
Tourism staff reported account number 22400750 originally included a roughly $69,000 rebranding line but recommended omitting an external “brand identity” contract and handling some rebranding tasks in‑house. Staff said that change would reduce the outside contract portion of the project to roughly $39,000 (transcript discussion included figures of $39,000 and $30,000 as the final proposed line depending on line‑item adjustments). Staff said website updates, SEO and video production with an identified vendor would remain in the budget.
Commissioners asked about existing special‑events funding and whether the $8,000 new‑event seed money had been fully used this year. Staff said the larger special events allocation was $98,000 and that almost all of this year’s special‑events funds had been spent; the new‑event seed money line of $8,000 had limited use so far. Staff said applications for 2026 event funding would open later after meetings with the bridal council.
A commissioner asked whether a prior transfer of $170,000 from restaurant taxes into the TRT fund would be available for use in 2026. Tourism staff said the county expects that transfer to remain in the TRT fund for 2026 and estimated, after the proposed rebranding reduction, the TRT fund would still have more than $200,000 available for allocation.
Staff said as the county’s TRT and tax revenue grow they intend to allocate more funds toward new events over time, but that many event requests will still be vetted by the travel council and approved on a post‑performance or pre‑approval basis depending on the program rules. Staff also advised that some historic line items (for example an ATV jamboree entry the county no longer funds) remain in the packet and will be removed to avoid duplication.
Ending: Commissioners asked staff to finalize line‑item edits and bring a settled budget back for formal adoption; staff said they will publish travel council applications and continue meeting with event organizers.
