Proponent Testimony on Ohio House Bill 161 — Holmes County Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau

Summary

Proponent testimony on Ohio House Bill 161 presented to the House Development Committee on April 29, 2025, by the Executive Director of the Holmes County Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau. The testimony states that the organization supports HB 161 as it would require short-term rental properties, regardless of size, to collect and remit all applicable lodging and sales taxes. It states that the annual lodging tax collection total for Holmes County for 2024 was just over $1.2 Million dollars. It also states that the board of commissioners has already lowered the minimum number of rooms for required collection to one.

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                                  Holmes County Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau
                                     6 W Jackson Street Suite A, Millersburg OH 44654
                                  VisitAmishCountry.com HolmesCountyChamber.com

                              ___________________________________________________




April 29, 2025

Proponent Testimony – Ohio House Bill 161
Presented to the House Development Committee
Tiﬀany Gerber, Executive Director – Holmes County Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau
Date: Tuesday, April 29th, 2025

Chairman Hoops, Vice Chair Lorenz, Ranking Member Abdullahi, and esteemed
members of the House Development Committee:

Thank you for the opportunity to oﬀer proponent testimony in support of House Bill 161.

My name is Tiﬀany Gerber and I am the executive director of the Holmes County Chamber of
Commerce and Tourism Bureau, also known as Visit Amish Country.

Our organization supports HB 161 as it would require short-term rental properties, regardless of
size, to collect and remit all applicable lodging and sales taxes, oﬀering parity in the collections
across the lodging industry.

In Holmes County, we see over 1 million visitors a year equaling over 4 million visits. Tourism is
one of our largest industries. While our board of commissioners has already lowered the
minimum number of rooms for required collection to one, we recognize and support the fact
that all Ohio counties would beneﬁt from a state-wide consistency for required collections.

In Holmes County, our annual lodging tax collection total for 2024 was just over $1.2 Million
dollars. Of the total collected, the amount collected from properties with less than ﬁve rooms
was nearly 14% of total collections. This was money collected from travelers visiting our county
and remitted to our county auditor. It is important to note that this is not a ﬁnancial burden to
the lodging properties but a pass-through. It is also important to note that we, as the
designated destination marketing organization, take our responsibility as stewards of the funds
collected very seriously and use those funds to promote our destination to bring more visitors,
and positively impact the community’s economy.

We believe that all lodging properties should be held to the same standards and regulations
including tax collection, safety, and local laws and regulations. Recognizing any property oﬀering
transient lodging as a business and requiring collection, levels the playing ﬁeld for all lodging
properties regardless of size and ultimately beneﬁts those properties as it allows additional
promotion of each destination, increases the sales tax for all Ohio communities, and
ultimately supports local infrastructure and services.
The passing of HB 161 will also ensure consistent policy as well as transparency and
accountability for lodging operators. It is also important to note that this pass-through tax is
used to generate economic growth and, simply put, this money is used to generate money.

On behalf Holmes County and its tourism industry, I respectfully urge your support of House Bill
161. Thank you for your time and for recognizing travel and tourism as an economic driver in
Ohio.

Respectfully,



Tiﬀany Gerber, Executive Director
Holmes County Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau

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