Baseball, convention center, arts seek big chunks of tourist tax money

As Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond announced Wednesday a one-month record haul of just under $39 million in tourist taxes, more than 50 groups are awaiting a chance to explain why they should help spend it.

Among hopeful applicants seeking a cut of a possible tourist-tax largesse are a group trying to lure Major League Baseball to Orlando and Orange County Convention Center executives who want about $587 million to restart an expansion halted in 2020 when the revenues collapsed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Florida Citrus Sports wants $800 million to put a roof over Camping World Stadium.

The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts would like $145 million to build an outdoor stage.

The Orlando City Baseball Dreamers LLC, seeking $975 million for a domed stadium, is not scheduled Friday to pitch its proposal to the Tourist Development Tax Citizen Advisory Task Force nor are any of the other 51 eligible applicants, whose requests total about $3.8 billion.

Other projects seeking funding: $256 million to renovate Amway Center; $176 million for a “sports village” at UCF; about $88 million for a “ZORA! Campus” in Eatonville, which hosts an annual festival in honor of African American author Zora Neale Hurston; about $53 million to renovate galleries at the Orange County Regional History Center; $25 million for a Holocaust museum; $25 million to expand Leu Gardens; and $10 million for a Pulse museum.

The smallest request was $600 for the Florida Songwriters Association for “annual music events.”

All will eventually get a chance in front of the 32-member TDT Citizen Advisory Task Force, an appointed panel created by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings to offer direction about spending future, uncommitted funds.

Roseann Harrington, the mayor’s chief of staff, will brief the task force on the requests that were submitted on a county website through a “funding interest” portal, which closed at midnight May 5.

Task force members include appointees from four chambers of commerce; each of six county commissioners; and 11 Orange County cities, all but the Disney municipalities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista.

The task force issues advisory opinions as does the Tourist Development Council, a nine-member board, which includes Demings and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. Orange County commissioners decide all TDT spending plans.

The Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association and other tourism stakeholders have seats on the panel. Jay Galbraith, vice president for Public Affairs and Advancement at Valencia College, was added by Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando put former state legislator Rene Plasencia on the panel.

Orange County’s tourist tax, also known as the hotel tax, Tourist Development Tax or TDT for short, is a 6% levy added to the cost of a hotel room or other short-term lodging. Revenues have helped pay the convention center’s construction and expansion debts; defrayed costs to build Amway Center, renovate Camping World Stadium; and finish the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando.

About $96 million went to Visit Orlando in 2022 to promote tourism.

TDT collections hit an all-time, one-month high in March, besting the previous high a year ago.

March was the 14th consecutive record-setting month.

But Diamond, the county’s fiscal watchdog, is expected to discuss TDT’s volatility Friday.

He persuaded Orange County commissioners last summer to require that TDT revenues total at least $300 million over a 12-month span and fiscal reserves build to a minimum of $300 million before shouldering new financial obligations. Unaudited, March collections pushed reserves to just over $310 million.

Monthly reports on TDT collections generally lag about five weeks behind collections.

April figures are due to be released in early June.

April numbers should be strong, too, Diamond said, because the Easter holiday –– a busy period for travel and theme parks –– fell in April rather than March, traditionally Central Florida tourism’s busiest month.

March earnings were fueled by an 81% room-occupancy rate of Orange County’s 102,000 hotel rooms.

The average daily room rate was $232, also a record, according to Visit Orlando.

“It can drop overnight, and it has,” Diamond said Wednesday, referring to cataclysmic events like the pandemic and 9/11, which abruptly halted travel and shuttered attractions that lure vacationers to Central Florida.

Diamond said the county needs to spend TDT money wisely.

“We’re not going to keep setting records every month forever,” he said.

shudak@orlandosentinel.com