Harford County Executive Robert Cassilly (R). File photo by Bryan P. Sears.
Harford County’s longtime tourism organization filed suit Wednesday against the administration of Harford County Executive Robert Cassilly (R), claiming that it breached its contract by failing to pay $215,000 that was owed to the organization.
In the suit filed Wednesday in Harford County Circuit Court, Visit Harford! accused the Cassilly administration of breach of contract and tortious interference.
A county spokesman said the administration had been working with the tourism group to resolve the funding dispute, and that the county was “disappointed” to get news of the lawsuit.
Visit Harford! is a nonprofit corporation that was created in 2014 and had been handling business and data collection related to tourism for Harford County since.
The lawsuit said that the county and the nonprofit agency entered into a contract on June 29, 2023, under which the county agreed to pay Visit Harford! a total of $645,000 in three installments of $215,000.
It said Visit Harford! received two payments, but when it asked for the third in January, the county did not pay, and has continued to decline despite repeated attempts from the tourism group to get the funding, according to the court filing.
Visit Harford! also claims in the lawsuit that $50,000 in a tourism grant earmarked for the organization was redirected to the county government instead.
The lawsuit argues that by withholding the funds, the county intended “to portray the Plaintiff (Visit Harford!) negatively in the community and in the tourism industry” by saying that the nonprofit has “no money.”
The lawsuit also said that, before terminating the contract, the Cassilly administration instructed other county entities, the Maryland Tourism Development Board, and the Office of Tourism Development, not to communicate with Visit Harford!.
Visit Harford! is seeking $215,000 in relief to complete the last payment, as well as an additional $75,000 if it wins the lawsuit. The suit notes that the organization’s funding does not come directly from county taxpayers but from a hotel occupancy tax, paid by visitors to the county, that generated almost $3.6 million in fiscal 2023.
But Matthew Button, public information officer for the Harford County government, said the decision to terminate the contract was a legitimate action to protect taxpayer dollars.
“Tourism marketing is funded with taxpayer dollars, and it is essential that these dollars be used effectively and fairly to support all local businesses and other stakeholders,” Button said in a prepared statement.
“Funding was provided to Visit Harford over the past year, but it was contingent upon certain requirements. We were working with them to reconcile accounts and money due and reach a collaborative path forward. We were disappointed to receive notice of a lawsuit,” his statement said.
Button said the Cassilly administration had “concerns” over the tourism nonprofit’s transparency.
“Promoting tourism had been solely a function of Harford County government until the prior administration shifted that responsibility to the nonprofit Visit Harford, although it continued to be funded by county and state tax revenue,” he said.
When Cassilly took office, his administration “undertook a review of all county-funded activities.” Despite “concerns about a lack of transparency and effectiveness concerning Visit Harford,” Cassilly decided to take a year to assess the situation, Button said.
“Over the past year, Harford County has been carefully reviewing all the models for tourism and the one we found to be most transparent and effective is the one used by Baltimore County and most other Maryland jurisdictions,” Button said.
The suit adds to a growing list of county officials and partners who have become disgruntled with the administration since Cassilly became county executive in 2022.
Harford County Council Member Aaron Penman (R), who has clashed with Cassilly before, said that the county executive’s actions in regard to Visit Harford! “violated County Code and breached contractual obligations.”
“The topic of this latest lawsuit was decided almost unanimously by the Harford County Council on January 16th, 2024 … when they clearly established Visit Harford! as the premier destination organization for Harford County,” Penman said in a written statement.
“In another déjà vu moment, the County Executive again ignored the Council’s majority support for Visit Harford! and defunded a proven and successful organization,” Penman’s statement said.
– Maryland Matters reporter Josh Kurtz contributed to this report.
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