Cuyahoga County commissioners expect to decide in the next few weeks whether to divert part of the county’s bed tax from Positively Cleveland, the regional convention and visitors bureau, to help pay for the operation of the planned convention center and medical merchandise mart.
Positively Cleveland has e-mailed its members a draft of a letter and is asking its members — hotel operators and others in the hospitality industry — to send letters to the Cuyahoga County commissioners urging them to protect the bureau’s share of the bed tax. The bed tax is a 4.5% tax on money spent on hotel rooms in the county, and it generates $11 million a year. The city of Cleveland also levies a 3% bed tax.
Positively Cleveland ends up with less than half of the $11 million, but the tax accounts for more than 80% of the nonprofit’s $5.2 million annual budget.
