Comptroller: $300M in tourist tax reserves is ‘floor,’ not ‘ceiling’

Orange County’s tourist tax collections, on a yearlong record run, achieved a milestone established last summer to protect against sudden swings in the volatile tourism industry on which the area’s economy is based.

The county now has more than $300 million in reserve accounts funded by the Tourist Development Tax, or TDT for short, the 6% voter-approved levy added to the cost of a hotel room and other short-term lodging options.

The total had plummeted to $178.1 million in July 2021.

“It shows just how far we’ve come in the three years since COVID started. Frankly, it’s gotten there before I thought it would, and that’s a wonderful thing,” said Comptroller Phil Diamond, whose office tracks the collections.

“We were able to pay the bills and get through the pandemic, one of the worst economic times in our history.”

He said the $300 million in reserve fund totals should be considered “the floor not a ceiling.”

In April 2020, the month after Disney, Universal, SeaWorld and other attractions shuttered to guard against spreading the highly contagious COVID-19 virus at a time vaccines were unavailable, TDT bottomed out at $765,900, the smallest amount ever tallied by the Comptroller’s Office, which assumed accounting duties in 1992.

Diamond said the county’s “break-even” total needed to pay existing TDT obligations is about $19 million.

TDT brought in a record $336 million in fiscal year 2021-22, an average of about $28 million a month.

Through the first four months of fiscal year 202223, the pace is higher — $30.6 million a month.

Despite the streak, Diamond urged caution in front of the Tourist Development Council, an advisory board headed by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings that vets projects and proposals bidding for a cut of TDT dollars.

Orange County commissioners have the final say on TDT spending.

“When you look back at the pandemic, we used an incredible amount of resources just to pay the bills ... after a lot of hard decisions were made,” Diamond said, noting a convention center expansion was shelved.

As tourists began returning to Central Florida,

Diamond, the elected fiscal watchdog, proposed Orange County commissioners hold off on committing to new major uses for tourist tax revenues until collections topped at least $300 million over a 12-month span and TDT-funded reserve accounts hit at least $300 million.

But the county still dipped into reserves for $145.7 million during the pandemic, he said.

Asked if he would add to the reserves, Diamond said, “I hope so.”

He said leaders should be certain “we’re on solid ground” before taking on new obligations.

Diamond’s announcement Friday came two days after the inaugural meeting of the mayor’s Tourist Development Tax Citizens Advisory Task Force, a group he wants to recommend a plan to spend uncommitted TDT dollars.

Also Friday, an application portal opened on the TDT task force’s webpage, www.ocfl.net/TDT, for organizations interested in pursuing TDT funding if revenues become available. Applicants should click on the tab marked “Funding Interest Indicator.”