Tourist-tax task force recommends more funding for arts, sports
Pricey projects for the Orange County Convention Center and Camping World Stadium led the headlines last week, but a task force evaluating tourist-tax funding also recommended millions more go to arts groups.
The citizens group, tasked with reviewing requests for future uncommitted Tourist Development Tax money, endorsed proposals that would put a larger share of the revenue into the hands of three grant-issuing organizations, two of which help fund auditoriums, museums and local arts and cultural events.
“I didn’t want them getting lost in the shuffle of big projects,” said Jane Healy, co-chair of the TDT Citizen Advisory Task Force, created by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings. “Our arts need this.”
The recommendations, if adopted by Orange County commissioners, could provide upwards of $200 million combined over the next 11 years to Orange County Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Greater Orlando Sports Commission and the TDT Application Review Committee, also known as ARC.
The exact figure depends on tourist-tax growth.
For perspective, the recommendations entrust the organizations with more money than the combined funding requests to create a Zora! campus in Eatonville ($87.8 million) and improve and expand the Orange County Regional History Museum ($52 million), Leu Gardens ($25 million) and the Holocaust Memorial and Resource Center ($25 million).
None of those projects made the panel’s approved shortlist. The task force’s recommendations are advisory and not binding on county commissioners, who have the final say on tourist-tax spending.
Task force favors Orange County Convention Center expansion, four other proposals
The Tourist Development Tax, sometimes called TDT for short, raised a record $336 million in fiscal year 2021-22 and is on pace to exceed that figure in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
With seven months of receipts counted this fiscal year, TDT has pulled in about $227 million, an average of about $32.5 million a month, or $4.5 million a month better than last year, records show.
Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond said the county needs the tax to generate about $19 million a month to pay convention center debts and other existing obligations assigned to TDT funds.
The county had about $321 million in TDT reserve funds at the end of April.
The May report is set to be released after the Independence Day holiday
The 6% tax, added to the cost of a hotel room, a home-sharing rental like Airbnb or other short-term lodging, soared over the last 15 months as pent-up demand for pandemic-delayed vacations boosted hotel-room occupancy rates and pushed average daily room rates as high as $232 in March.
Task force evaluations of funding applications showed strong support for increased funding of the three organizations, who consider expansion of tourism a priority when weighing funding requests.
The panelists offered praise — and some criticism — for the three groups in the lengthy evaluation surveys which were submitted anonymously through an online portal and collated by a consultant.
One task force member wrote, “Many great projects happen under the aegis of the ARC!”
Since 2018, the Application Review Committee, which evaluates projects seeking “excess” TDT money, has recommended funding requests for more than $50 million, including $10 million each to OnePulse Foundation, the Orlando Philharmonic’s renovation of Plaza Live and the Orlando Science Center.
The task force recommended that ARC get $12 million a year for five years to fund eligible projects, although the annual award could be as much as $20 million a year if excess revenues are available.
ARC also won support to increase its maximum award to $20 million, double the current cap.
But another panelist urged the organizations to spread the money around better.
“It seems as though the same groups get the money each year,” the panelist wrote. “We need to ensure newer and smaller and diverse organizations receive funding, too, not just the club of those ‘in the know.’ ”
In its funding application, ARC noted other TDT applicants might apply for funding through them, including the proposed 4Roots Farm Campus, led by restauranteur John Rivers; Rollins Museum of Art and the Menello Museum of Art.
A solid 80% of task-force members supported a richer funding formula for Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs, headed by director Terry Olson in partnership with the United Arts of Central Florida.
The Fringe Festival and 33 other cultural tourism groups received financial backing last year from Arts & Cultural Affairs, he said.
“Our government support has been amazing, but we can do better,” Olson said in a pitch to the task force.
Arts & Cultural Affairs also won praise from the task force.
“We must continue to put our creativity and identity at the forefront of who Orlando is,” one panelist wrote.
Task force member Ella Wood, a labor advocate, saw value beyond tourism in funding arts.
“I think it’s really important that TDT money goes not just to projects that increase the presence of the biggest companies in the tourism industry but also to things that build community and support workers and families,” she said. “Arts and culture is one of the ways we can do more of that.”
The Greater Orlando Sports Commission, headed by CEO Jason Siegel, won panel support for a funding boost to help the organization lure marquee football games and other high-profile sporting events.
The task force recommended increasing the commission’s incentive fund from $4 million to $10 million a year as the organization tries to bring events like the Special Olympics or World Cup soccer here.
Siegel said the county doesn’t lose incentive money it pledges on bids it doesn’t win.
While vital for the arts, the funding pledges are relatively small compared to other task force recommendations, which include an appeal for $800 million to add seats and a canopy at Camping World Stadium.
The Convention Center topped the recommendation list, though the request for $586 million is an outdated estimate to finish the expansion halted in 2020 when tourist-tax revenues cratered amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The task force will meet again July 17, then present their recommendations the next day to the Tourist Development Council, another advisory board. County commissioners are slated to consider recommendations of both July 25.
