From the Bluefield Daily Telegraph:
Ridiculous!
Thanks to projects like the Hatfield-McCoy Trail, tourism is booming in Mercer County. And the region is on the verge of becoming a tourism destination for off-road riders across the nation. Given this great opportunity, our elected leaders should be working to capitalize upon this growing ATV tourism engine.
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Instead, members of the Mercer County Commission are still foolishly debating whether they can use revenue generated from the county’s hotel/motel tax on non-tourism related issues.
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They can’t. State code is clear on this. The revenue generated from the hotel/motel tax must be used to support tourism. It can’t be used for libraries and airports. And no — despite a falsehood advocated last week by commission president Gene Buckner — the Mercer County Airport is not a commercial facility. There is no passenger service provided by the airport. It is a general aviation facility.
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The three elected county commissioners are not above state code.
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The controversy began in June when the commissioners decided to revisit where the money raised by the hotel/motel tax, which totaled almost $730,000 in the 2015-2016 fiscal year, is spent.
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The Mercer County Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) argued that the money was being appropriated in areas that don’t comply with state code regulating hotel/motel taxes, such as the county airport and libraries.
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Yes, we love our local libraries, and we strongly urge area residents to support them. We also believe it is absolutely imperative for Mercer County to have a first-class general aviation airport. But we must be realistic.
Tourists are not traveling to our region in droves to visit the local libraries. They are visiting Mercer County to enjoy our outdoor adventures, including the Hatfield-McCoy Trial.
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In terms of the Mercer County Airport, we are baffled over why Buckner believes it is a commercial facility. In case he and the other commissioners have forgotten, we lost our commercial air service back in 2007. And the reason passenger service was lost was because local officials at the time dropped the ball.
During a meeting with the Daily Telegraph editorial board in 2007, former U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said local opportunities to retain commercial air service were ignored.
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For example, Rockefeller said the Mercer County Airport was the only facility in West Virginia at the time that did not apply for a Small Communities Air Service Grant.The loss of commercial air service was a difficult blow to the region. But in recent years, area officials — including members of the Mercer County Airport Authority Board and Airport Manager Clint Ransom — have made tremendous strides in enhancing the airport. And be
cause of their hard work we have a first-class general aviation facility. And ongoing efforts to improve the airport must continue, but funding for the airport should come from correct revenue sources.
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It is misguided for the commissioners to think they can circumvent state code. Any action taken by this elected board that would harm the county’s still growing ATV tourism business should be met with appropriate outrage.
