Orlando venues shut out of Orange County’s tourist-tax funding – for now
Orange County commissioners doled out nearly $800 million in future tourist-tax revenues this week but not a penny for three Orlando venues recommended for funding by a citizens review panel.
Commissioners raised a myriad of questions Tuesday about funding requests for the Amway Center, Camping World Stadium and the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, totaling about $3.8 billion, all of which made the short list of projects that got a thumbs-up this summer from the TDT Citizen Advisory Task Force created by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings to study proposals.
Some commissioners wanted to know if the city had pledged any of its own money to the projects. Others wondered whether the Orlando Magic had committed to remain as Amway Center’s anchor tenant.
Demings said he didn’t see the board’s questions as a hard no to city venues.
“What the takeaway for me was … we need more information by which to make an informed decision about the financial capacity of the city, the financial capacity of the county,” the mayor said. “I remain optimistic that when we come back together, we can come to some reasonable conclusion where the majority of the board will support some of the city venues, I’ll put it like that.”
But he also said there was not enough TDT money to fund all three.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who addressed commissioners Tuesday and advocated on behalf of the three venues, shrugged off the board’s decision not to include them in their funding resolution.
“I’m confident that we’re going to get Camping World and Amway funded with TDT,” he said referring to the Tourist Development Tax revenue by its acronym. “When and how? I don’t know.”
During the nearly six-hour meeting, commissioners debated how to spend the revenues, which soared to record levels over the last two years, fueled by pent-up demand for leisure travel after COVID.
The 6% tax added to the cost of a hotel room, home-sharing rental like Airbnb or other short-term lodging raised a record $336.3 million in fiscal year 2021-22. With September receipts not yet counted, revenues in fiscal year 2022-23, which ended Sept. 30, were $3 million shy of matching last year’s mark.
But the revenue stream has been up and down over the years like a rollercoaster.
It crashed after the 9/11 terror attacks, slumped during the recession in 2007-08 and cratered to historic lows in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic halted international travel and closed attractions.
A 14-month run of record-breaking collections that began in February 2022 ended in April, the start of a five-month slide in which revenues dropped when measured against receipts from the previous year.
But even the monthly totals during the dip averaged about $27.8 million, a pace, which, if maintained for a year, would net $330 million, about $50 million more than the best pre-pandemic year.
The tax was approved decades ago to fund the convention center and, from 1986 through 2022, about $2.7 billion in TDT has been spent on the massive meeting place on International Drive.
The revenues also have paid to defray the cost of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, upgrade Camping World Stadium and provide incentive money required to bid to bring international soccer exhibitions, Monster Truck shows, the NFL Pro Bowl and Wrestlemania to Orlando.
The money provides most of the funding for Visit Orlando to promote tourism in Central Florida.
Visit Orlando
Commissioners Mayra Uribe and Emily Bonilla honed in Tuesday on Visit Orlando’s 30% contractual share of tourist-tax revenue — $101.7 million in 2022, according to the agency’s financial report.
Both commissioners said their budget should be examined more closely and trimmed.
New tourist tax plan gives Visit Orlando millions more to woo visitors
“If we were to give Visit Orlando a haircut, we could actually get more done,” Uribe said
She said the commission also has no direct oversight of the agency.
“I think it’s a problem when we are spending more in marketing than we are in debt services and infrastructure,” Uribe said.
Casandra Matej, hired in February 2021 as Visit Orlando’s president and CEO, was not available for an interview but emailed a response through a spokesperson in which she defended the agency’s work.
“Any cut to our budget would impact our marketing, sales, services and community efforts,” she said. “We are examining some potential scenarios and look forward to an open dialogue in an upcoming Board of County Commission meeting to answer questions and share facts.”
Matej said there were “many significant oversight measures in place,” noting Visit Orlando’s board includes two county appointees and representatives of both the Orlando and Orange County mayors’ offices.
She said Visit Orlando also provides a quarterly financial statement to Orange County.
Informed of the agency’s response, Uribe reaffirmed her position.
“I’ve never said they’re not valid or that they don’t do a good job. We just need some transparency and we need to revisit how much money they’re getting,” she said. “We all want transparency.”
What commissioners approved
The board on Tuesday voted, 5-2, to fund a proposed expansion of the 7-million-square-foot Orange County Convention Center. The expansion, now estimated to cost $560 million, would add 60,000-square-feet of meeting space and an 80,000-square-foot ballroom to the center’s footprint.
The centerpiece of the project, halted in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is a “grand entrance” providing a covered connection between the North-South Building along Convention Way.
Commissioners also agreed to a five-year funding boost to help local arts and cultural groups.
The Application Review Committee, which contributed $6 million to the Winter Park Library and Events Center and $4 million to Harriett’s Orlando Ballet Center, will get $75 million over five years.
The Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs will get an increase in funding worth about $67.5 million over the next five years, about $22.5 million more than expected under the previous funding plan.
Commissioners also agreed to provide $10 million a year in TDT revenues for nine years to cover the cost of building a tower at FBC Mortgage Stadium, the on-campus home of the Knights football program.
The university, whose athletics programs moved up a notch in competition this year to the Big 12 Conference, cut its original request of $176 million for a sports village to $88 million for the tower.
The mayor applauded UCF’s leadership for “sharpening their pencils” and taking on funding risks they could face if TDT doesn’t perform well.
The funds would come from “excess revenues,” money above Comptroller Phil Diamond’s analysis that predicts the tourist tax will raise $328 million in fiscal year 2023-24, about $25 million less than this year.
Under this plan, there is no guarantee UCF would receive funding but if TDT revenues exceed the comptroller’s conservative projections — as Mayor Demings expects — the tower could be fully funded.
Dr. Phillips Center plan would add theaters, put downtown park in the sky
Other projects also will hope for a TDT bonanza to win funding.
During the meeting, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, seeking $175 million to transform its downtown campus, was lauded by arts patrons and James Williams, managing director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London.
“The Dr. Phillips Center is a place that everyone can call home,” said Williams, in town with 80 other members of the internationally famous orchestra participating in the venue’s “Residency Festival.”
Kathy Ramsberger, president of the venue, told commissioners she understood the community needs were great and the money was limited.
“But if we could be considered for future funding with priority we would celebrate that,” she said.
Orlando Sentinel writer Ryan Gillespie contributed.
