$266K Settlement Goes To Harford County Government

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — The non profit Visit Harford, Inc. must pay Harford County Government $266,100.06 in a ruling issued by the Circuit Court.

In his ruling, Judge W. Michel Pierson stated that Visit Harford, Inc. failed to fulfill its contractual obligations and spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars without proper justification under its agreement with Harford County to promote tourism.

Unjustified expenditures revealed during litigation included gift cards, beer, airfare, meals and electronic devices, without explanation as to how these expenditures related to tourism or allowable county funds, the ruling stated.

In the judge's written opinion, the court found that Visit Harford failed to provide certain work products required under the contract, such as its website and social media accounts, forcing the county to incur expenses to recreate tourism assets and restart tourism promotion efforts. The court also determined that some of Visit Harford’s expenditures were unjustified under the terms of the contract.

“This judgment is an important victory for Harford County taxpayers,” Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly said. “The court affirmed our view that outside entities receiving public funds must spend those funds for their intended purpose and be able to account for every dollar. Despite our attempts to work with Visit Harford, they resisted accountability and transparency and instead launched a lawsuit and a media campaign to discredit our efforts. Council President Pat Vincenti irresponsibly joined in by trying to continue funding Visit Harford through illegal legislation that I vetoed, twice, and I refused to implement when the council overrode my vetoes. Regardless of such pressures, my administration remains committed to protecting taxpayer dollars.”

Harford County has since reestablished tourism promotion efforts under county management as Hello Harford, and will pursue collection of the full award amount determined by the court, county officials stated.