MIDDLEBURG — The hotel tax in Snyder County will soon rise from 3 percent to 5 percent.
The county Board of Commissioners discussed the increase Tuesday as it prepares to enact an ordinance approving the higher hotel tax.
The county currently receives 2 percent of the hotel taxes collected from 19 hotels and cabin rentals.
Yearly, the total tax collected is about $310,000, with the county receiving about $6,200, Treasurer Debra Kratzer said.
Raising the tax to 5 percent would bring in about $200,000 more each year and allow the county to collect as much as 4 percent of the total receipts, said board Chairman Joe Kantz.
“It’s better than raising property taxes,” said Commissioner Adam Ewig.
Kantz said the additional revenue will help pay for recreational projects in the county, such as improvements at Faylor Lake in Beaver Springs.
“We want people who come here from out of the area to help subsidize what brings them to the county,” he said.
The county has received a $100,000 state grant and nearly $84,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds for improvements at the lake, including a pavilion with concession stand — for which the counties will seek business proposals — and restrooms, expanded parking area and handicap-accessible area to serve the thousands of visitors to the 18-hole disc golf, 3.75-mile trail and fishing and boating at the site.
The pavilion is expected to cost several hundred thousand dollars, said Kantz. “That’s why this hotel tax will come in handy,” he said.
The commissioners Tuesday approved several quotes from local companies hired to do some of the work on the pavilion project. Timberhaven Log and Timber Homes, of Middleburg, will be providing trusses for the structure at a cost of $23,474; Advanced Concrete Systems, of Middleburg, is providing about $19,000 worth of concrete walls and Ply Gem of Selinsgrove is providing the stone facade.
The pavilion should be completed by late September, said Ewig, in time for the national collegiate disc golf tournament that will be held at the lake.
In the past year, 6,500 disc golf players from 42 states have registered on the UDisc app to play on the course, said Ewig. The players have ranked the free course 13th in the world, Kantz said.