Housing, Centre County tourism & more: 5 takeaways from CBICC’s State of the County

The Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County held its annual State of the County event this week, where the county commissioners shared updates on current and future priorities.

Held Tuesday at the Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center, the event was a part of the CBICC’s Voice of Business series. It featured a presentation from Centre County Commissioners Amber Concepcion, Steve Dershem and Mark Higgins, followed by the trio answering questions submitted by attendees.

CBICC President and CEO Greg Scott recognized the commissioners for the work they do, as well as the importance of the event.

“[The commissioners’] decisions and leadership affect not only county government, but also the broader business environment, economic growth and quality of life across our region,” Scott said. “This event is about coming together as a community to reflect on our progress, understand the challenges we face and look ahead with optimism about the opportunities before us.”

Between the presentation and answers to submitted questions, the commissioners offered insight on several matters, including housing, tourism and a recently-completed major project to give a new home to the county’s human services departments.

Below are five takeaways from the State of the County event.

Housing and the ‘missing middle’

The commissioners spoke about housing in the county, and what’s been done to bring more of it to the area.

According to Higgins, Centre County has a “missing middle” when it comes to places to live. While there may be plenty of apartments to rent and forever homes to purchase, the in-between phase is what’s lacking, he said.

“It’s the transitional phase, so to speak — younger people starting their careers that want a condo or a town home, seniors that are sick of keeping a house but aren’t ready for retirement community yet and may want to move into a townhome or a condo too,” Higgins said. “We’re drastically short on that type of housing here.”

The commissioners’ presentation showed that since 2020, around 600 homes were added to the county’s landscape, with more on the way. Those are much needed, given that the county gains an average of around 500 to 1,000 new residents each year.

According to Higgins, in 2024 the county government directly assisted 259 households containing 565 residents, and had helped create or preserve another 100 dwelling units.

Moving forward, the commissioners, the county’s housing task force and the CBICC will jointly host a housing summit from 5:30-7 p.m. on Oct. 15 at the recently-constructed Community Services Building, 502 E. Howard St., to discuss the issue.

Community Services Building will be an asset

The $30 million, 130,000-square-foot Community Service Building project is complete following a four-year planning and construction period — an achievement that the commissioners touted at the event.

Located in a 90-year-old building that was formerly the Centre Crest nursing home, the idea for the Community Services Building was hatched in 2021, with construction starting last year.

The building is now home to all of the county’s human services departments, including the children and youth services, mental health, intellectual disability, early intervention, drug and alcohol, veterans’ affairs, adult services and the office of aging departments.

It also contains the county’s elections office and some members of its information technology, records and maintenance staff. The Bellefonte Senior Center will also be moving into the new building.

“[The human services departments] now have a facility that’s not only modern, but that’s also designed to do some really, really, really amazing things for the folks that they serve, and the folks that are doing the serving,” Dershem said. “The folks in the human service business see the best and the worst of humanity at times, and they live a life that I don’t think many of us can realy appreciate unless you’re in it.”

Some of the building’s features that help contribute toward positive moral and mental health include less-cramped work spaces that make it easier to collaborate with other departments, large windows to let in more natural light, soothing wall colors and home-like spaces for families or individuals to carry out visits in private.

Tourism boosts Centre County’s economy

Tourism is one of Centre County’s major economic contributors, and the commissioners made sure to nail that point home Tuesday.

In 2024 alone, around 5.1 million people visited the county and spent more than $1 billion here, which includes increases of $50 million in day-trip spending and $96 million in overnight spending, according to a report conducted by Longwoods International.

The commissioners attributed much of that success to the efforts of the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, which is funded by the county through a 5% tax on short-term rentals and hotel rooms.

In turn, HVAB uses those tax dollars to carry out their operations, which, according to Concepcion, includes “a strong focus on increasing hotel stays in the county” and a broader mission of “funding efforts to make Centre County a more enticing place to visit and live.“

Some of HVAB’s efforts specifically highlighted by the commissioners include a social media influencer campaign aimed at highlighting the county as a tourist destination, reaching out to the parents of Penn State international students to show them attractions they can enjoy when visiting, and offering a tourism grant program that will provide $1.1 million in funding for around 81 events this year and in early 2026.

“I’ve had the honor of being able to serve on the board of HVAB, and getting to work with them as a commissioner to help make Centre County a more exciting place to visit is one of the really fun parts of this role,” Concepcion said. “We’re really just so fortunate here to have so much local pride and effort being put into making our communities welcoming and engaging for visitors from across the state and across the globe.”

Some of the larger events that HVAB was credited with helping contribute toward includes the 2026 Ironman National Championships, the Centre County Encampment and Fair and the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

The impact of the delayed state budget

With Pennsylvania state budget talks still deadlocked, many counties across the state — including Centre County — have been finding it difficult to plan their 2026 budgets.

Typically, after the approval of the state budget, crucial funding is then distributed to counties for the services they run. But some counties have already begun cutting some of their human services to get by, Higgins said at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting.

During the State of the County, commissioners were asked whether Centre County would be able to maintain all of their services moving forward, or if they’d also have to cut services to get by.

“Thankfully, Centre County has carefully managed its money for a number of years now, and we have an amazing finance director too (Richard Killian),” Higgins said. “He and his staff have done some numbers for us, along with the controller’s office, and it looks like we’re going to be able to make it to Jan. 1 without any significant cuts.”

Jan. 1 is an important date for counties because then they can take out a tax and revenue anticipation note for an advance on the county’s property tax, then pay it back in May when the property taxes hit, Higgins said.

“We are in good hands,” Dershem said. “I think we will weather this storm as we’ve weathered a few before, and you know, this is just part of the process of dealing with budgets and local government.”

Living longer in Centre County

Centre County has an average life expectancy of 82.1 years — 4 1/2 years longer than residents of neighboring counties and longer than any other Pennsylvania county, Higgins said Tuesday.

“We propose that some of this longer life span is due to services provided by Centre County Government, our 35 municipalities, Penn State and our local human service agencies,” Higgins said. “The local quality of life, the high rates of volunteerism, the vibrant business community and the popularity of active outdoor lifestyle may also play a role.”

The commissioners also pointed to the high number of volunteers and volunteer opportunities in Centre County as possible factors for the life expectancy rate.

“There’ve been studies with longitudinal data on the value of volunteering to the people who do get involved — you’ll live a longer, healthier life if you’re a volunteer and are involved in your community,” Concepcion said. “Being able to get out and volunteer, interacting with everyone in your community and in real life rather than mediated through a screen, is a really crucial thing for the health of our society.”