The Democrat in the race to be Florida\u2019s next governor thinks hotel taxes can be spent differently\u2014\u00a0 so the massive source of money can pay for more than just tourism marketing and promotion, and local communities can have more latitude to pay for local needs.<\/p>\n
David Jolly said in a recent interview with the Orlando Sentinel that he believes local governments should have more say in how they use Tourist Development Taxes, the tax visitors pay on hotel and other short-term rentals. He also thinks the state could benefit a change that would allow it to use the money to address Florida\u2019s homeowners insurance crisis and lagging teacher pay.<\/p>\n
But, he added, he wouldn\u2019t support any plan that would harm tourism \u2014 spearheaded in the state by the more than 76 million people who visited the Orlando area last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly a fool would do anything that crimps tourism,\u201d he said, but the tax needs a \u201csober\u201d study.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there a way to use TDT money with some kind of blended local control that begins to fund some of our needs, that also funds our tourism industry? I think it should all be on the table,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a crisis of convention centers, we have a crisis of teacher pay, we have a crisis of homeowner\u2019s insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n
While nearly every Florida county has some form of a tax on hotel stays \u2014 totaling more than $1 billion statewide \u2014 the largest pool\u00a0is in Orange County, where millions visit for theme park vacations and business conventions annually.<\/p>\n
But state law only allows Orange\u2019s TDT dollars to be used to build, maintain and operate convention centers, stadiums, arenas, and other arts and cultural facilities and events that lure visitors.<\/p>\n
After a citizen\u2019s task force last month recommended Orange County make hotel tax reform a legislative priority, the Orlando Sentinel sought interviews with the two leading candidates for governor for their take on the future of the lucrative tax.<\/p>\n
Numerous requests for an interview with Republican candidate Byron Donalds weren\u2019t acknowledged.<\/p>\n
Jolly said he favors looking at using Tourist Development Tax money to create a catastrophic fund that would allow the state to cover all hurricane and natural disaster losses, instead of leaving it to private homeowners insurance.<\/p>\n
He also wants to redirect money toward raising teacher pay by 30%, as well as allowing for more local control of some of the money for local needs.<\/p>\n
Orange County\u2019s hotel tax is a 6-cent-per-dollar surcharge on hotel room and short-term rental stays, a lucrative funding source essentially dedicated to paying for tourism marketing and to building venues that create more tourism.<\/p>\n
In Orlando, that\u2019s included building the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, the Kia Center, and numerous expansions to the Orange County Convention Center and other venues.<\/p>\n
The Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment on Jolly\u2019s ideas.<\/p>\n
Under a 2018 change in state law, however, counties that spend at least 40% of their TDT on tourism marketing and advertising can spend a portion of their hotel taxes on infrastructure, so long as it supports tourism.<\/p>\n
Orange County maintains it\u2019s not eligible for such flexibility because it only spends 30% of its bed tax on funding Visit Orlando \u2014 expected to be about $120 million this year. But it doesn\u2019t count any spending on its convention center in that calculation.<\/p>\n
State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, who has filed bills in recent years to reform the tax, said he\u2019s heard Jolly speak about reform at various Democratic Party events around Florida \u2014 and was shocked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time I heard David Jolly talk about TDT reform, I almost fell out of my chair,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t see it coming. It\u2019s such an important local issue here for us that I just didn\u2019t expect a gubernatorial candidate for either party would prioritize it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, Smith said, Orange remaining in control of its tax proceeds \u2014 expected to crack a record $400 million this year \u2014 is critical.<\/p>\n
\u201cTourists are putting a strain on our local resources,\u201d he said. \u201cThe TDT revenue that we receive in Orange County needs to stay here in Orange County and be decided by Orange County\u2019s elected leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who is running for Orlando mayor next year, has sponsored various hotel tax reforms in the Florida House of Representatives that have not passed. She said she was happy to see the idea continue to gain steam statewide.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny effort to reform the TDT for me is a step in the right direction,\u201d she said. \u201cTo see a statewide candidate talk about it is refreshing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Democrat in the race to be Florida\u2019s next governor thinks hotel taxes can be spent differently\u2014\u00a0 so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,114,115,139,141,140,99,109,1316],"class_list":["post-392935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-business","tag-latest-headlines","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-social","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}