COBLE COMES TO AID OF MOORE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
Washington,
Oct 27 -
(WASHINGTON, D.C.)----Current federal regulations are hurting the hospitality industry in Moore County in competing for federal employee travel and meetings, and the man who represents Moore in the U.S. House is trying to remedy the situation. U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) today introduced legislation to make Moore County and others eligible for higher federal per diem reimbursement rates.
“It’s a matter of fairness,” Congressman Coble said while introducing the bill, H.R. 3934. “Moore County should be able to compete on a level playing field with neighboring counties. Our bill would afford more flexibility in reviewing these federal per diem rates. I’m sure if given a fairer price for their facilities and services, the people who operate Moore County’s hotels and meeting facilities can compete with anyone. Our bill would also apply to any other locality in a similar situation.”
The hospitality industry in Moore County receives a lower per-diem reimbursement rate for federal employees due mainly to the presence of Fort Bragg in neighboring Cumberland County and the large number of federal employees traveling there on official business to the area. Under current rules, the General Services Administration (GSA) will only review the reimbursement rate for a locality if a travel manager for one of the federal agencies requests a review. To date, none has been requested for the locality covering Moore County.
Rep. Coble said the local hospitality industry has no way to trigger a review and is stuck with the lower per-diem rate. Federal employees are choosing not to stay in Moore County because the per-diem rate is less than the neighboring locality, despite its close proximity. Coble’s bill would require the GSA to conduct a biennial review of the federal employee per-diem rate for any locality containing or adjacent to a locality containing a military instillation. This would allow localities that qualify under this bill to have the hotel rates reviewed in order to ensure that rates are equitable with neighboring localities and that local industries are not penalized with no recourse.
The legislation does not change the formula used by GSA to set per-diem rates nor does it require GSA to change the per-diem rate for any specific locality. It merely provides an opportunity for local industry to present its case to GSA. It is expected that Congressman Coble’s bill will be referred to the House Government Reform committee.
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