Tourist Development Council Approves Activation of the 5th Cent Bed Tax

On Tuesday of this week the Escambia County Tourist Development Advisory Council voted 5-2 to recommend that the county levy the 5th cent of the bed tax on tourists.  This has been a hot-button topic that has consistently run into heavy opposition from hoteliers recently.

At Tuesday's meeting, the motion to recommend to the BCC the levying of the 5th cent was made by Jim Reeves and seconded by David Bear.  After discussions among the council, the vote was taken and by a 5-2 vote the measure to recommend to the Board of County Commissioners that they levy this fee on hotel and resort visitors passed. Those voting for the measure were Shirley Cronley, David Bear, Robert Bender, Nan Harper, and Ronnie Rivera.  The two members voting against were P.C. Wu and Jim Reeves.

The TDC will be requesting that the BCC levy the 5th cent immediately, but that the board put the proceeds from the 5th cent into a reserve account until such time as the county and the TDC iron out the most beneficial use of this new revenue to support tourism locally.

Most counties throughout Florida already levy 5 or 6 cents.  Escambia County, somewhat of an outlier, only levies 4 cents.

Each cent generates roughly $2.5 Million yearly in revenue that can be used for a variety of purposes that support tourism.  The lion's share of our 4 cents' worth of this revenue locally supports advertising our area to out-of-town markets.

For this to take effect, the Escambia Board of County Commissioners must schedule a public hearing and pass an ordinance authorizing this levy.  The measure must pass via a supermajority, with at least 4 commissioners supporting it,  in order for this levy to take effect.

I assume the public hearing will be scheduled in January.

Expanded Use of Tourist Development Tax to be Contemplated this Session....

Right now Escambia County levies 4 of an available 6 cents on every dollar spent by tourists on room nights in Escambia County.

I've recently proposed raising this to levy the 5th cent, with a simultaneous push to modify the law to allow 4/10s of the 5 cent levy (or about $1Million yearly) to come back to the County and the ECSO to help offset recurring public safety expenditures at tourist areas of the county---Just as Okaloosa, Walton, and Bay Counties currently do.

I'm working this issue locally, discussing it with hoteliers and twice now with my counterparts on the BCC.  My question is simple:  Should we not extract a small portion of this fee back to offset the tourism related expenditures which Escambia County property owners are currently subsidizing?  Residents should contemplate the answer to this question carefully.  Not only does tourist season increase demand on our infrastructure and in some instances limits our ability to access our own beaches on busy summer days--but to add injury to insult there are some that believe this is an acceptable situation and to even ASK about pulling back some TDT monies to help offset public safety costs associated with tourism is taboo.  I disagree--as do others. So we're supposed to pay all costs of public safety with revenue derived from residents, we're supposed to fund a new stadium with non-TDT funds, and we're supposed to use LOST money to pay $25-30 Million for round a bouts?  Really?

I think there will have to be some negotiating on all these issues, the Blue Penny, roundabouts, sports arenas, and spending TDT monies.  We need to work together and utilize all funding sources to the maximum allowable methods---AS OKALOOSA, WALTON, and BAY have already figured out...

But now, there is a new, interesting bill that has been filed that contemplates expanding the uses of the tourist development taxes for certain tourist utilized road and infrastructure projects.

This session will be interesting for sure...From the Miami Sun Sentinel:

"Tourist tax dollars could pay for roads, sewers and other projects under a bill being debated in the Florida Legislature. Currently, taxes on hotel rooms must go to tourism marketing or projects directly related to attracting tourists, such as beach renourishment or facilities such as aquariums and convention centers. Under the proposal, the tax could be used projects that would help tourism-related business. 'You can use the tax money to build a convention center, but you can’t use it to build a road to the convention center,' said state Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, who sponsored the House version. 'You can improve a beach, but you can’t build a bike path to the beach.' Supporters say it is needed because some counties take in more money than they have tourism projects to spend on."