ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County is one step closer to deciding how billions of dollars in future tourism tax revenue could be spent after the Tourist Development Council accepted recommendations Tuesday from a citizen task force.
The council voted to accept the recommendations and send them to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, which will have the final say over which projects receive funding.
“We have money,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings. “We have the blessing of money, and everybody wants some of it. Everybody isn’t going to get some of it.”
At stake is as much as $3 billion in future capacity from Orange County’s Tourist Development Tax, which is largely generated by taxes on short-term lodging such as hotel stays.
A citizen advisory task force spent weeks reviewing 20 proposals competing for that future revenue before recommending funding for 12 projects and programs.
Among the largest requests still under consideration is roughly $60 million for a museum project in Eatonville and $54 million for a Florida Citrus Sports parking garage at Camping World Stadium.
Tuesday’s meeting, however, brought some late pushback over whether members of the Tourist Development Council should have more time to independently review the proposals and financial details before moving them forward.
“We’ve been taken out of that equation in this situation, and I don’t feel comfortable recommending something because I haven’t been part of the whole process,” said Jonathan McGavin, Area Manager at Grande Lakes.
That concern highlighted an important distinction in what the council was being asked to do on Tuesday.
“I would point out to the council that you are not being asked to approve the recommendations,” said Linda Chapin, Co-Chair of the TDT Citizen Advisory Task Force. “You are being asked to accept the recommendations.”
The vote does not authorize spending or guarantee that any of the recommended projects will receive money. Instead, it moves the task force’s recommendations to county commissioners for consideration.
The Board of County Commissioners will ultimately decide which projects move forward and how much Tourist Development Tax funding each receives.
Several proposals did not make the task force’s recommended list, including a request for $30 million to $50 million for a Florida Museum of History and a $975 million request from Orlando Dreamers for a new baseball stadium.
The recommendations are expected to go before county commissioners next, putting the final decisions over the future tourism tax dollars in their hands.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.