Repealer Would Remove Unnecessary Restriction Preventing Counties Like Orange from Using TDT Funding on Mass Transit
Tallahassee, FL — Representative Anna V. Eskamani has filed HB6075, a repealer bill to allow counties like Orange to spend additional hotel bed tax revenue on mass transit and other public facilities, freeing up property tax revenue to go towards other essential needs like affordable housing.
Every year the tourism industry lobbies hard to ensure counties can only spend hotel taxes on items that drive more business to them, like advertising and convention centers. In 2008 they even prevented the Florida Keys from spending more hotel taxes on housing for tourism workers.
But in 2018, led by lawmakers from Brevard County who wanted to spend tourist taxes on sewer facilities to reduce pollution into the Indian River Lagoon, the Florida Legislature passed a law allowing counties to spend hotel taxes on “public facilities” — defined as major capital projects that help increase tourism. The definition includes transportation and pedestrian facilities, among other things.
However, there was a catch — during the final week of that legislative session, the Florida Senate amended the bill to add a restriction that prevents counties from spending hotel taxes on public facilities unless they also spend at least 40% of their taxes promoting and advertising tourism. This amendment was requested by the tourism industry, and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and his administration referenced this restriction in 2019 by stating that it prevented the county from using hotel taxes to pay their share of a new road for Universal Orlando.
They ended up promising Universal up to $100 million in property taxes and $25 million in impact fees instead — public money that could have otherwise been spent on local needs.
“Removing this restriction would allow Orange County and other county officials to spend hotel taxes on mass transit projects in its tourist areas – things like expanded Lynx bus service to Disney World or a SunRail connection to the airport – that could be of real help to front-line workers and residents,” said Representative Eskamani. “This could even allow the county to spend hotel taxes on affordable housing projects or anything else that is deemed a public facility needed to increase tourism. We’re facing a major affordable housing crisis in Central Florida and this is a way to build more attainable housing while not increasing taxes.
There are several big tourism-district transportation projects that Orange County is already planning to build with property tax revenue. This includes an approximately $100 million bus circulator connecting Universal Studios’ parks and other International Drive attractions, and an approximately $20 million pedestrian bridge at International Drive and Sand Lake Road. This repealer would let Orange County use hotel tax revenue to pay for these projects instead of property tax revenue.
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