HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Blair County commissioners certified Discover Blair County as the county’s tourism promotion agency by unanimous vote Thursday morning.

Created by the Blair County Alliance for Business and Economic Growth, Discover Blair County will have the full power and authority to represent Blair County in “all matters relevant to and for all purposes of the Tourism Promotion Act,” Commissioner David Kessling said during the commissioner’s meeting.

The state Department of Community and Economic Development states that the purpose of the Tourism Promotion Act is to “support local and regional destination marketing organizations in their efforts to market and promote tourism.”

The commissioners also approved a memorandum of understanding between Blair County and Discover Blair County.

The vote comes after the decertification of Explore Altoona approved by Kessling and fellow Commissioner Amy Webster in May. A public hearing was held before the decision, during which supporters of Explore Altoona said decertification would be a mistake and that a replacement agency wouldn’t do the job Explore Altoona had been doing.

Last year, Kessling and Webster began to pursue the transfer of TPA responsibilities to a new entity that would work with the Alliance to draw visitors through the development of outdoor assets and recreational trails in the county.

While commissioners subsequently put their pursuit on hold pending negotiations with Explore Altoona, they moved forward in early 2025 to secure sufficient municipal support to decertify Explore Altoona and, more recently, to certify Discover Blair County.

No end in sight for budget delay

In other matters, Webster utilized the commissioner’s comments section of the meeting to speak on the ongoing state budget impasses, saying they weren’t hopeful one would be passed “at any time in the next month.”

Webster said Blair, along with Pennsylvania’s other counties, are starting to plan budgets for the upcoming year and “not knowing what funds will and will not be available is very troubling.”

Programs and county functions at least partially funded by grants and state money that could be affected by the impasse include Blair County 911 and the Emergency Management Agency, Webster said.

“We have a lot of monies that we rely on to keep these programs going,” Webster said.

She then urged county residents to “contact your legislators” so “we can all now work towards what our budget will be for next year.”

In regards to the state budget, the commissioners approved the submission of a letter to Gov. Josh Shapiro and the state legislature addressing the consequences of missing the deadline.

Commissioner Laura Burke said, between the federal and state governments, Blair County received over $15 million a year from 2021 to 2025. A portion of the federal money is also given to the county through the state.

“When we talk about the impacts of the state not having a budget, those are the dollars we’re talking about,” Burke said. “We’re talking about mental health funding, we’re talking about drug and alcohol funding, we’re talking about housing funding, we’re talking about children and youth reimbursement.”

Even when they have a budget, Burke said they feel “we’re not getting enough funding to fully fund and serve the people of this county.”

Without that funding, additional pressure is put on the county’s taxpayers, she said.

Kessling agreed, saying the ones made to suffer are the ones who need the money the most.

“As an elected official, speaking to other elected officials, we’re not telling you what to do,” Kessling said. “We’re just simply asking you to do your job, and that is to pass a budget.”

Burke said last week that if the impasse lasted past the end of September, the commissioners would have to have a serious conversation about scaling back several services due to lack of funding.

After Thursday’s meeting, Burke said the county had just finished paying July’s invoices and were going to look “at where we are in September.”

“Most of this money is money we give to agencies to do services, so some of it depends on the individual financial conditions of those agencies and whether they can continue to operate without our funding,” Burke said. “I have not heard anything encouraging in terms of movement on the budget. We’re hoping that it doesn’t continue, but it’s not looking good.”