Wood County Economic Development Commission (WCEDC) Executive Director Christine Thomas said that the organization is currently negative on Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) income for 2026. During a lengthy discussion at their March 25 meeting, board members attributed the change to several different factors, including a lack of Airbnb tax collections; a higher-than-usual level of sponsorships for bigger-than-usual local events; and the fact that most heavy-impact events, such as Rock the Pines or CRAPPIEFEST, had not occurred yet.

“If this trend continues…” said WCEDC Board President Tom Keenan.

“We won’t have any money, yeah,” finished Thomas.

Several major events are shortly upcoming, which Thomas said should help fund the WCEDC budget.

The commission discussed the problem of Airbnb tax collections. The WCEDC is currently under an agreement with VRBO to collect county-wide tax; however, Airbnb, being a separate entity, is not under the agreement. There does not seem to be an option to automatically allow property owners to set aside taxes for the county, said board member Vic Savelli; this leads to short-term-rental property owners having to pay county taxes out of their pocket, if they do so at all. The WCEDC is currently only collecting 30% of the taxes they are owed. Thomas said that they plan to send letters to property owners discussing the law.

Because of budget constraints, the board also discussed the purpose of each sponsorship, and of the WCEDC as a whole.

“I’m not opposed to any of these events we’re interested in doing. I just would like to see a little bit of criteria as to why we’re saying yes to these things or not,” said Savelli. “If the benefactor is basically local charities, is that the role of the Wood County EDC? And are HOT funds, or promotional dollars, to fund non-profits? So, if the answer is yes, that would make things a little different; if the answer is no, well, okay, then what is the tangible benefit? Is it promoting to these thousands of people that will be coming into the county to let them know they’re in Wood County?”

After a lengthy back-and-forth regarding the purpose of the WCEDC, and under what criteria an event should be sponsored rather than having “a random vote where we’re spending five figures of advertising” (as Savelli said), the board decided to give Ruck for the Fallen a gold-level $500 sponsorship.

They also voted to give Rock the Pines, which has now capped its attendance at 8,000 people, a $5,000 sponsorship.

They voted to table the motion on whether or not to sponsor Okrapalooza, as organizer Elizabeth Dry may be receiving funding from another source.

Under Savelli’s motion, the board unanimously agreed to create a list of sponsorship criteria for events.