Members of the Brevard County Tourist Development Council on Wednesday shot down County Commissioner John Tobia's proposal to revamp how tax money paid on hotel rooms and other short-term rentals is distributed.

Tobia last month advocated that every collector of Brevard County's 5% tourist development tax — such as hotels, motels, vacation rentals and recreational-vehicle parks — get back some of that money to market their properties.

Tobia made his proposal after the County Commission outvoted him, 3-1, giving hotel developer Driftwood Capital up to $1 million a year from tourist tax revenue for 30 years to market the group's planned Westin Cocoa Beach Resort & Spa. The developer said the 502-room hotel and conference facility off State Road A1A is a $388 million project.

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Tobia contended that the deal was unfair to other collectors of the tourist tax, so he suggested giving others a similar opportunity — as long as the Tourist Development Council supported the idea.

But the feedback to the idea at the TDC's monthly meeting Wednesday was generally negative, so Tobia said he won't pursue his proposal.

TDC Chairman Tom Hermansen said he believes in "fairness and equity," but opposed expanding the Driftwood approach to all because "two wrongs never make a right." Other TDC members agreed.

Hermansen, a hotel owner in the Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral market, said he favors the current system, under which 47% of the tourist tax collected goes toward a comprehensive plan to market the Space Coast to tourists.

The rest of the money is distributed for various purposes: 25% for beach improvement, 14% for tourism-related capital facilities, 5% for the Brevard Zoo in Viera, 4% for cultural events, 3% for USSSA Space Coast Complex in Viera and 2% for visitor information centers.

Under Tobia's proposal, he suggested eliminating tourist tax allocations for capital facilities, cultural events and tourist information centers, while using that money for marketing.

Hermansen said, if marketing money is diverted to individual hotels, it would put Brevard County at a competitive disadvantage against other Florida tourism markets that are more established and already have larger marketing budgets.

Hermansen also said it could be "administratively impossible" because of how many collectors of the tax there are who all would get a reimbursement from the tax they collect. They all would have to monitored by Space Coast Office of Tourism staff to be sure they spent the reimbursement on marketing their facility.

Three other members of the TDC — an advisory board to the County Commission — also said they support keeping the current system in place.

TDC member Keith Winsten, executive director of the Brevard Zoo in Viera, said making the change could reverse the momentum the Office of Tourism has built up in marketing the county.

If individual hotel owners use the tax revenue to market their individual properties, rather than having a countywide approach to marketing with pooled tax revenue, that could "drive our tourism market down," said Winsten, who chairs the TDC's Marketing Committee and is Tobia's appointee to the TDC.

"Our system is good, and we have checks and balances," said TDC member Giles Malone, a partner in the Space Coast Daily media company, as well as a partner in an event and sports management business. "It's works well."

TDC member and Palm Bay Mayor Rob Medina also said he would like to keep the status quo.

"We've had an outstanding marketing team," Medina said, noting, for example, that Palm Bay and Titusville areas are getting more tourism marketing emphasis than in the past. "I think we're on the right path for the tourism industry."

Medina also said it would "hinder our mission" if tourist tax money no longer went to cultural programs or visitor centers.

After hearing the TDC members' feedback, Tobia said he respects and admires their opinions.

"I will not be bringing this forward, now that I know how the TDC felt," Tobia said.

Tobia would have needed support of a "supermajority" of at least four county commissioners for approval of such a major change in how the tourist development tax is allocated.

The tax is expected to raise a record $21 million or more during the current county budget year that ends Sept. 30, according to Office of Tourism Executive Director Peter Cranis.

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bydaveberman.

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard tourist panel opposes Tobia plan to return tax money to hotels