The authority managing the Blair County Convention Center has approved salary and wage increases in an attempt to retain employees in a competitive job market.

The increases, approved Wednesday and retroactive to Jan. 1, were awarded to select employees for taking on more responsibilities, as reflected within job descriptions Executive Director and CEO Tom Schilling previously presented to the authority.

“We’ve had some pressures due to the loss of employees,” authority Chairman Matt Stuckey said after the authority met in executive session to review recommended pay changes.

The pay changes will affect a portion of the convention center’s lengthy list of part-time kitchen and dining room employees and bartenders who handle jobs associated with meetings, conferences and events the center hosts.

In some cases, the action translates into a wage increase of $2-to-$3 per hour and in a few cases, it increases pay rates to $18 and $19 an hour.

Meanwhile, pay rates for newly hired and less experienced staff won’t change, with a few exceptions setting pay at $12 an hour for employees previously earning less.

The authority also addressed salaries and wages for full-time employees, also retroactive to Jan. 1, which ends the previous practice of awarding end-of-year bonuses, authority solicitor Dave Andrews said.

Instead of considering end-of-year employee bonuses, Andrews said the authority reviewed salary information gathered to make comparisons within the industry and with others in comparable positions.

After a review of the information in executive session, the authority voted in public to set Schilling’s 2026 salary at $108,000. Other salaries for 2026 included: Facilities Director Steve Despot, $88,643; Marketing and Sales Director Garrett Giedroc, $70,000; Banquet Manager Heather Clippinger, $64,896; and Sous Chef Justin Hughes, $60,000. The authority also established pay rates for five additional full-time hourly employees.

Andrews said the authority’s action does not address future intentions that could be evaluated when setting 2027 pay rates.

The convention center, based on a January review of 2025’s finances, ended the year with $48,000 in the black. That was the lowest amount since the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years when the center’s operations were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. But 2025 was also affected by higher-than-budgeted personnel costs and maintenance expenses. It was also a year when county commissioners revised bed tax allocations, leaving the convention center with $76,574 in 2025, far short of the $120,000 budgeted and less than half of its 2024 allocation of $193,633.

For 2026, the convention center expects to get $150,000 in bed tax revenue.

The convention center also expects to improve its bottom line in 2026, with revenue projected at $2.68 million.

Ongoing efforts to host statewide organizations has been generating business and will continue, based on reports that Schilling and Giedroc provided to the authority.

The Pre-K Counts program and the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program are sponsoring a conference in late May at the convention center. It’s drawing about 800 people to Altoona over the two-day event and creating a demand for hotel rooms, Giedroc reported to the authority.

Schilling also reported success in attracting two visiting college football teams to the Altoona area this fall that will make use of the convention center.

Last fall, the convention center arranged to host the Oregon Ducks football team, which traveled into the area for its match with the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Also during Wednesday’s meeting, Penn State collegians from the Sheetz Fellows program offered a review of their plans for increasing meeting pace inside the convention center’s lower level exhibit hall.

Students offered suggestions for using a portion of the space that could open to one large room or as many as three smaller rooms using moveable walls, complimented by flooring and ceiling renovations.

“We’re just doing a little preliminary work,” Schilling said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.