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Supervisors and business owners press for clearer ROI and an audit of Warren County occupancy-tax spending
Summary
After a detailed 2025 spending review, committee members and public commenters questioned whether occupancy-tax dollars are delivering measurable returns and asked the county to seek an audit and clearer spending rules; a business owner urged a Controller's Office review and a workshop with business leaders.
At a lengthy June 22 committee meeting, supervisors and public commenters pressed tourism staff for clearer return-on-investment measures tied to occupancy-tax spending and asked the committee to consider an audit of the program.
During the spending report, staff walked the panel through three-year trends, municipal allocations and spending categories. Several supervisors said they could not see whether promotional spending was producing meaningful increases in overnight stays or economic benefit for municipalities and organizations that receive occupancy-tax dollars. "If we're not moving the needle, do we need to look at this and say, there needs to be a slight change?" one supervisor asked.
A longtime local business owner amplified that critique in a fifteen-minute public comment, urging an outside review. "This isn't working, guys," the speaker said, and called for a detailed reexamination of which expenses qualify as tourism promotion, clearer guidelines for awards and consideration of a Controller's Office audit covering both collections and spending. The commenter specifically referenced state statute 12-O-2 and the county's 2020 local amendment that expanded the base to include short-term rentals, and warned that the program's rules and spending categories were vague.
Tourism staff and other committee members did not dispute the need for better metrics; staff said a fuller 2025 review and an upcoming presentation would provide outcome-focused data and offered to meet with supervisors one-on-one to walk through event-specific returns. Committee leaders also noted the state controller's office is conducting a review of county operations in the coming weeks and agreed to ask whether that review could include occupancy-tax practices. Members asked staff to prepare a narrower set of ROI indicators and a follow-up plan for the next committee meeting.
Why it matters: Warren County collects millions in occupancy-tax revenue each year and uses the funds for tourism promotion, events, and some capital projects. Supervisors and business stakeholders said they want clearer alignment between spending and measurable visitor outcomes before committing additional funds or multi-year contracts.
The committee did not vote on an external audit during the meeting, but members agreed to pursue follow-up steps, including (1) asking the state controller's review team whether occupancy-tax administration can be examined in their incoming review, (2) having tourism staff supply a focused ROI packet and (3) considering a workshop that includes business leaders to help clarify spending priorities and any proposed local-law revisions.
