Orange County’s Tourist Council rubber-stamps TDT task force report
Orange County’s Tourist Development Council, which usually evaluates projects wanting tourist-tax funding, rubber-stamped the report of a citizens advisory panel recommending a convention center expansion.
The council, a permanent, nine-member advisory board to the Orange County commission, unanimously endorsed the citizen panel’s recommendations, including more money for local arts and cultural groups.
Commissioners will hear the report for themselves at their meeting Tuesday.
“There are more questions to be asked,” said Commissioner Nicole Wilson, whose west Orange district includes Winter Garden, fast-growing Horizon West and Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
Wilson said the convention center expansion, for instance, does not have a current price tag.
Originally approved in 2019, the expansion, budgeted for $605 million, cost the county $18 million before work was halted in 2020 when tourist-tax collections cratered amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project would add about a million more square feet, a ballroom and a multipurpose hall.
Mark Tester, convention center executive director, said he did not have a revised figure.
“I’m not going to write a blank check,” Wilson said.
Commissioners decide spending plans for revenue raised by the Tourist Development Tax or TDT, a 6% levy added to the cost of a hotel room, an Airbnb rental or other short-term lodging options.
The surcharge, sometimes called a resort, hotel or bed tax, hauled in a record $336 million in fiscal year 2021-22, averaging about $28 million a month. Records show collections have averaged about $32 million a month through eight months of the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
Task force favors Orange County Convention Center expansion, four other proposals
Maria Triscari, president of the International Drive Resort Area Chamber of Commerce, described the convention center as “the fuel for the economic engine” in the tourist corridor, boasting 54,000 rooms, hundreds of restaurants, six theme parks and accounting for 10% of the county’s tax base.
“This project is shovel-ready and is imperative for economic growth, allowing the convention center to stay competitive in a very competitive market,” she said. “Today, while other cities have moved forward with their plans, the Orange County Convention Center [project] is sitting idle and other cities are making moves to capture our market share spending billions of dollars enhancing existing facilities.”
The citizen panel, which reviewed more than 50 funding requests totaling about $3.8 billion, did not suggest funding levels for the five projects it recommended. Proposed costs are listed in parentheses:
expanding the Orange County Convention Center ($586 million).
adding capacity and a canopy to Camping World Stadium ($800 million).
renovating the Amway Center ($256 million).
a multi-tiered outdoor space at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts ($145 million).
creating an Athletics Village at the University of Central Florida ($176 million).
The panel also recommended providing millions more for local arts groups to share.
Tourist-tax task force recommends more funding for arts, sports
The 31-member citizens panel, created by Mayor Jerry Demings in March to sort through funding applications for future, uncommitted TDT revenue, evaluated requests according to their potential to expand tourism, financial readiness and projected or anticipated return on investment.
But some members want community needs to figure into future funding decisions.
Tourist-tax panel wants ‘community needs’ in funding decisions
Some have argued the tourist-tax revenue bonanza should be used in part to help ease housing and transportation challenges worsened by the influx of visitors, 74 million just last year.
“We are addressing those issues and we will continue to address those issues to the extent that we have dollars available,” Demings said. “Even with a $6.8 billion budget, it is not enough to do everything that the people expect us to be doing.”
