It is one of the most common refrains at the end of every year during the Erie County budget process.

“Fully fund the Buffalo Convention and Visitor’s Bureau with their full share of the bed tax”

Since I don’t like to hear a problem restated over and over again without the proposition of a creative solution, I’m going to offer one…because that’s how I roll.

Why should the CVB be funded out of a tax that is collected by Erie County? The revenue stream sources from the hotels themselves and the County simply acts as a pass through, while taking a piece of the revenue as a vig.

Why not abolish the bed tax altogether?

Poking around the CVB’s website, I came across a series of videos that were recently completed which help tell the story of Buffalo-Niagara. By the way, if you want people to actually watch these videos, shorten up the vignettes and post them on sites around the web, not just on your own.  The only people who will find these videos will be people who were looking for them in the first place, viral marketing 101.   I digress…