Tourist-tax plan makes smaller-than-expected trim of Visit Orlando budget

Orange County leaders signed off Tuesday on a much-debated spending plan for the county’s lucrative tourist tax, pledging over $600 million to upgrade Camping World Stadium and the Kia Center while handing a reprieve to the Visit Orlando marketing agency, which had been threatened with deep cuts.

“I believe we have ended up in a good place,” said County Mayor Jerry Demings, whose spending preferences were detailed in an eleventh-hour memo to Orange County commissioners and adopted mostly intact by the 6-1 vote.

Commissioner Emily Bonilla cast the lone no.

She had favored chopping Visit Orlando’s 30% share of Tourist Development Tax revenue by five percentage points. That approach would have foisted cuts on the not-for-profit marketing organization that would grow even deeper if tourist numbers jump as expected in the coming years when Universal Orlando opens its newest and largest theme park, Epic Universe.

Bonilla’s favored approach appeared for weeks to have the consensus support of her fellow commissioners, but Demings had a different idea.

“Today, I think, was a good day,” said a relieved Casandra Matej, president & CEO of Visit Orlando, who had appealed to the board for full funding, trumpeting the agency’s marketing success and the volunteerism and work of its employees.

The vote holds Visit Orlando’s contractual share of TDT revenue at 30%, forecast at $98.5 million this year.

Demings did propose a dollar-amount cut for Visit Orlando for its 2025 budget year of $15 million, but he pushed to allocate it to programs the agency favors: $10 million for the Sports Incentive Committee to pursue top-tier athletic events and $5 million for the Application Review Committee for capital projects at cultural arts venues, increasingly credited with attracting out-of-towners to shows.

Both committees “are directly tied to our mission,” Matej said.

Even commissioners who voted with the majority were unhappy with parts of the spending plan.

“It’s disappointing,” said Commissioner Mayra Uribe, who had hoped a deeper cut for Visit Orlando would have freed up money for other community needs if state law changes to allow expanded uses for TDT. “We could have prepared for the other issues we have going on locally, including housing. We can’t keep kicking the can down the road.”

She said if something changes in state law to expand uses, “in reality, we just locked up all the money.”

At a prior meeting, commissioners urged the county’s legislative delegation fight for looser TDT rules.

Members of the mayor’s TDT citizens advisory board also had pushed for the tax revenues to be steered to programs to add affordable housing or improve the transportation network, though Demings insisted law doesn’t now allow it.

Along with the cut to Visit Orlando, a county commissioner will now sit on the marketing’s decision-making board, and Comptroller Phil Diamond agreed to audit the agency, which is expected to get $100 million in 2025 when the deal begins.

The vote Tuesday brings a close to the year-long discussion on how best to spend the profits from a 6% surcharge on all hotel rooms and short-term rental nights in the county. The tax generated $359 million last year.

The night before the meeting, the mayor sent commissioners a four-page memo laying out his plan for the money, which mirrored some ideas ironed out by commissioners in a pair of publicly noticed meetings in the past week.

Two city-owned venues won funding promises in the deal, with $400 million toward upgrades at Camping World Stadium, including rebuilding the upper deck terrace and adding a 100,000-square-foot fieldhouse to the stadium campus.

Also, the newly renamed Kia Center, where the NBA’s Orlando Magic play their home games, won a pledge of $226 million to update and improve the facility, funded by the sixth cent of the Tourist Development Tax, or TDT.

Before the three-hour TDT hearing, commissioners heard from about 50 people, most of whom championed Visit Orlando, Camping World Stadium and the Kia Center as job creators and vital to bringing tourists to Central Florida.

“Teachers, custodians, and bus drivers are recognized on the field at football games as a simple way to say we appreciate you,” said Bridget Williams, an educator who spoke in favor of Camping World Stadium upgrades.

Orlando city commissioner Regina Hill, whose district includes the stadium and the Kia Center, called both venues “lifelines” for the working-class communities surrounding them. “It’s more than a game, it’s more than a concert, these are jobs and people’s livelihoods.”

About two dozen residents of The Communities of West Lakes, who reside near Camping World Stadium, voiced their support for the renovation, hopeful it will have the same positive impact on their neighborhoods as the last project.

Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan often credits the stadium with helping lift up the community.

“Today’s vote insures that Orlando will remain competitive as a leading destination for sports and entertainment events and paves the way for continued economic and socioeconomic impact in The Communities of West Lakes and throughout Central Florida,” he said.

shudak@orlandosentinel; rygillespie@orlandosentinel.com