MONTOUR COUNTY, Pa. -- A recreational preserve in Montour County was set to close its doors next fall, however, a new county ordinance passed on Tuesday is expected to keep the Montour Preserve up and running for years to come.
The Montour County commissioners voted in favor of a county-wide hotel tax increase. Montour will become the 35th county in Pennsylvania to raise its hotel taxes to 5 percent.
"The current tax rate is 3 percent, so as commissioners, we've been discussing the idea of raising the tax from 3 to 5 percent," said Montour County Commissioner Ken Holdren.
The 2 percent hotel tax increase in Montour County will bring in about $167,000 annually, and all of that money will go to the Montour Preserve, a recreational area that was in jeopardy of closing earlier this year.
"What this represents is basically assuring about two-thirds of the annual funding requirements of MARC (Montour Area Recreation Commission) and the preserve going into the future."
Without the tax increase, the preserve would've closed its doors next September due to a lack of funding and donations.
"It's been sort of crushing for the last year. We knew we had to find a way to get the funding and we got to the point in August where I honestly didn't think it was going to come together and we had to start letting our partners know," said Bob Stoudt, the director of the Montour Area Recreation Commission.
Stoudt says the new funds will improve the preserve.
"Next year, it's all different. Next year, it's not just trying to make sure we can keep the doors open. Next year, we're looking to add concession areas for everything from canoes and kayaks, food trucks, things like that, that are hopefully going to add to the experience and bring more people to the Montour Preserve."
The hotel tax increase benefitting the preserve will go into effect in January of 2020.