Upon receiving a county attorney’s memo during discussions on Aug. 17, the Tourist Development Council deferred making a sea change in its policy when it rescheduled a request to approve tourist tax funds for a Holmes Beach drainage project until its Oct. 12 meeting.
Holmes Beach Vice Mayor Dan Diggins, a member of the TDC, told his colleagues about the little-discussed fact that the Florida law regulating how counties can spend tourist development tax funds allows infrastructure projects to be funded with certain conditions.
Holmes Beach City Engineer and Public Works Director Herb Raybourn then proposed a five-year project to install 92 tide valves to improve street drainage in the Anna Maria Island city for $689,000, with the city paying half and the county’s tourist tax funds covering the other half. As Diggins mentioned, Florida law provides that up to 70% of the cost of a particular project can come from tourist tax funds.
It may be the first time Manatee County tourist tax funds have been tapped to improve a city-specific infrastructure project that benefits both tourists and residents. Funds have historically been reserved for marketing, advertising, beach renourishment, and direct tourism-related uses such as the convention center and promoting tourist attractions.
This year, the county is estimating receiving $38 million in tourist tax funds, Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the board.
Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown, a TDC member, named the elephant in the room.
“The biggest concern I have right now obviously is if this is now a thing, I think you’re going to have five other cities in Manatee County coming and asking the TDC for it because it is a great thing and we’re all looking for infrastructure and we’re all looking for help,” he said.
TDC member Tony Russo agreed, saying he supported the idea.
“I think everybody else is going to come to the TDC and eventually to Manatee County to tap these budgets and I think the answer to that is, well, we really need to make sure that these projects that are coming are truly affecting tourism,” he said, adding that it’s “a win-win” when a project helps tourists and also residents.
The TDC is an advisory board to the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners, which has the final vote on how to spend tourist tax funds, according to the uses allowed by Florida Statute Chapter 125.0104.
Looking at the statute, TDC Chair Amanda Ballard, a county commissioner and attorney, said the board could spend up to 60% of its tourist tax budget on infrastructure. The statute provides that at least 40% of the funds must be allocated to promote and advertise tourism, leaving 60% for other allowed uses.
Calling it “a policy question,” Ballard asked, “Do we want to spend 60% of our TDT (Tourist Development Tax) funds on infrastructure? Is that the way we want to go with the bulk of these funds, because if we make this decision now, it will come in like a flood,” from cities and unincorporated Manatee County.
While board members were discussing the issue, Falcione, the TDC’s liaison with county commissioners, said that he forwarded them a memo from the county attorney’s office on the Holmes Beach request before them. The memo was dated July 28.
At Falcione and Ballard’s suggestion, TDC members decided to defer the issue until October.
Obtained by the Beacons after the meeting, the memo, addressed to Justin Intorcia, contracts manager for the CVB, by Assistant County Attorney Whittni M. Hodges, responds to the CVB’s request for information on the Holmes Beach application.
The memo states, in part:
“TDT revenues can be used to fund the proposed improvement since sewer outfalls constitute drainage infrastructure, as long as the following conditions and requirements are also met:
1. The improvement has a life expectancy of 5 or more years;
2. The County’s Tourist Development Council recommends the improvement to the BOCC;
3. The County’s BOCC finds that the improvement to the City’s sewer outfalls is needed to increase tourist-related business activities within the County and approves the Improvement by a 2/3 vote;
4. The County’s tourist development plan is amended to include the improvement as required by section 125.0104(4)(c)-(d), Florida Statutes;
5. The County received at least $10 million dollars in TDT revenue in the fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year in which the TDT revenues will be used for the Improvement, or the County is a fiscally constrained county, as described in s. 218.67(1), located adjacent to the Gulf of America or the Atlantic Ocean;
6. No more than 70% of the improvement’s cost is paid for with TDT revenues, and funding sources for the remaining costs are identified and confirmed by the BOCC;
7. At least 40% of all TDT revenues collected in the County are spent to promote and advertise tourism as provided by section 125.0104(5)(a)(3), Florida Statutes; and
8. An independent professional analysis is performed at the expense of the County’s Tourist Development Council demonstrating the positive impact of the improvement on tourist-related businesses within the County.