HARRISBURG -- Would a levy on overnight visitors provide the means for Mercer County to support its public schools and ease the burden on property taxpayers?

The idea of hitting up visitors for school costs through a countywide hotel room tax strikes a chord with some taxpayers living in major tourist destinations like the Poconos, but evidence shows that hotel room taxes don't generate the revenue needed on the scale to support public schools.

And tourism industry officials say the revenues generated by county hotel room taxes are already spoken for. Pennsylvania law stipulates that revenues are to be used for tourism development and convention center development.

"The tax doesn't produce a lot of revenue. The revenue is predicated on the lodging and guest rooms in each county," says Barry Wickes, president of the Pennsylvania Tourism and Lodging Association. "The intent of the law is to dedicate the money for tourism purposes only."

Forty-two of Pennsylvania's 67 counties levy a hotel room tax. The rate ranges from 2 percent in many smaller counties to 8 percent in urban Philadelphia and Allegheny County. The number of counties levying this tax have doubled after a state law was enacted in 2000 setting uniform procedures for the tax, according to the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Mercer County levies a 3 percent hotel room tax.

The county hotel room tax piggybacks on Pennsylvania's 6 percent sales tax, which covers hotel room charges as well as meals and souvenirs purchased by visitors.

Wickes says the revenue yield from the tax is sufficient for tourism development, but would be inadequate to make any dent in school property taxes.

For example, Montgomery County, a prosperous Philadelphia suburb, has levied a 2 percent hotel room tax since 1983. The tax will yield about $2.6 million in revenues this year. All this money supports the activities of Valley Forge Convention and Visitors Bureau. Montgomery County lost some tourism business in the wake of Sept. 11 and this led to a downward revision of the tax's estimated revenue yield by $300,000, says Paul Decker, president of the Valley Forge convention bureau.

Rep. Robert Godshall, R-Montgomery who chairs the House Tourism and Recreational Development Committee, said the county's hotel room tax revenues would only have a marginal impact if spread among the 22 school districts in Montgomery County The 22 districts are slated to split $82 million in state subsidy aid alone under Gov. Mark Schweiker's budget proposal.

Lancaster County, home of Dutch Country attractions and shopping outlets, has levied a 5 percent county room tax since 1994. The tax is divided into two parts with a 3.9 percent room rental tax that goes to support the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority and a 1.1 percent hotel excise tax that goes to support the Dutch Country Convention and Visitors Bureau. The two taxes yielded $6.5 million in revenues in 2001, according to Lancaster County treasurer Gregory Sahd.

By comparison, Lancaster County's 16 school districts are slated to receive $104 million in state subsidy aid under the governor's budget proposal.

The hotel tax revenue yield is equivalent to what one of those school districts -- Elizabethtown Area -- receives in state aid.

The best way to generate revenues for property tax cuts is to the hike the state's 6 percent sales tax, says Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau director Robert Uguccioni.

"We do support an increase in the sales tax across the board up to 7 percent," he adds. "This would fall on meals and other things tourists buy."