The Washington Tourism Development and Beaufort County officials will meet Wednesday to discuss the possibility of a county tourism department. Al Klemm, a county commissioner, will go before the board to talk about the idea.

Beaufort County officials are looking at the possibility of becoming the recipients of the six-percent tax rate on hotels outside of the city limits of Washington and other municipalities within the county.

County officials, however, would have to appeal to change legislation in Raleigh before getting the funds collected through the tax. Currently, the law states that a city or town receives the tax on lodging only. If the county can apply for and receive the tax, the six percent must be used to promote tourism inside the county, according to state law.

“The county is thinking if it continues to grow there will be additional lodging properties in the future, and looking at tourism as a key part of the economic future of the county,” said Lynn Wingate, director of tourism and development.

The monthly TDA meeting will give city officials an update on the Civic Center expense report and schedule of events. Wingate and her staff will review their plans for the East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival, which Wingate said they took over in 2013.

“We’ll be talking about our plans for the upcoming year and reviewing our marketing plans and initiatives,” Wingate said.

Brian Alligood, Washington’s city manager, along with Doug Mercer, city councilman, regularly attend the monthly meetings to get updates on the economic impact of big events happening in the city, according to Paula Stephenson, tourism marketing assistant.

Part of the planning Wingate does is to promote businesses and other entities’ events in the city.

“We discuss what the goals are for the tourism bureau for the next year, what we have going on right now, what we might have finished up and what the numbers were,” Stephenson said.

“One of the main things we try and do is to promote local events to get the word out about those,” Stephenson said.

The tourism board discusses the grants available for nonprofits in Washington that may bring tourism into the city, according to Stephenson.

“We have a seven member board of directors that meets once a month and we review our marketing direction,” Wingate said.

“We work hand-in-hand with the chamber (Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce) and other organizations to help promote them,” Stephenson said. “We might not put on events ourselves because that is not what we do, but we are here to promote any and all local events.”