Allegheny County Treasurer Erica Rocchi Brusselars and Controller Corey O’Connor announced their offices are expanding their partnership, further ensuring local hotels comply with the County’s Hotel Room Rental Tax.

Originally adopted in 1991, the 7 percent tax on all hotel, motel, and short-term rental stays of under 30 days is collected by the Allegheny County Treasurer’s Office. These funds are dedicated to promoting tourism and convention business countywide, including debt payments on the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The Monroeville Convention Center and County Parks also receive support from the tax.

This audit hotel function was originally a Controller’s Office function, but has been outsourced or dormant for the past several years, except for the auditing of all closed hotels. The offices are excited to expand their partnership and restart regular audits. The Controller’s Office has conducted a limited number of audits when a hotel changes ownership. Now, the office’s Auditing Division will conduct all audits in-house, conserving tax dollars and ensuring the utmost quality.

“As your Treasurer, it’s my responsibility to be a good steward of the county’s funds. We expect bringing back regular audits will increase revenue” said Treasurer Brusselars. “By bringing this audit function in-house, we can leverage the talent of our Controller’s Office and save taxpayer dollars.”

The audits will examine 150 active hotel accounts over a three-year period based on the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ attestation standards. The purpose of these audits is intended to test each hotel’s compliance with Treasurer’s Office regulations and includes the following:

• Room Revenue Testing: Ensures that the room revenue reported on the tax filings submitted to the Treasurer’s Office agrees to supporting documentation from the hotel
• Tax Remittance Testing: Ensures the hotel paid the proper amount of hotel taxes due to the County based on the hotel’s supporting documents
• Exemption Testing: Ensures the hotel paid the proper amount of hotel taxes due to the County based on the hotel’s supporting documents

The Controller’s Office refers findings of taxes, penalties, and interest due to the Treasurer’s Office for collection.

“Our Auditing team is highly trained and experienced at assessing the tax compliance of hotels referred for evaluation by the Treasurer’s Office, identifying over $173,000 for collection in 2024. By expanding our partnership, I am confident that we can ensure hotels are paying the County the proper amount of taxes due as well as save funds previously spent on outside vendors,” O’Connor said. “This cooperative venture is a win-win for our taxpayers.”