Broward bed tax to rise a penny in 2018
Convention center expansion planned
Guests at hotels, motels and other lodgings in Broward County will be paying a higher tax next year to help cover the cost of expanding the county’s convention center.
The increase approved Tuesday by Broward commissioners will raise about $12 million per year. Guests will see a 6 percent tourist or “bed tax” charge on their bill, a penny increase from the current 5 percent tax.
The tourist tax is on top of the county’s 6 percent sales tax, which means visitors will pay 12 percent total tax on their lodging expenses. The tax applies to hotels, motels and short-term rentals of under six months. Airbnb rentals began paying the tax in the county in May.
Commissioner Chip LaMarca was the lone commissioner to vote against the increase. LaMarca actually supported the increase to pay for the planned convention center expansion, but he wanted it in writing that the increase would go away if construction didn’t start by the end of 2020.
LaMarca was concerned that once the tax is in place, it won’t go away even if plans for the expansion fall apart.
Other commissioners also want the money directed toward the expansion costs, but they didn’t want to impose conditions that might make it more expensive to bond tourist tax dollars for construction purposes.
LaMarca also suggested the extra tourist tax dollars go to marketing the county if the expansion doesn’t occur, but at least one commissioner said that was a lot of money to go just for marketing.
Commissioners are comfortable they can rescind the tourist tax increase at any time, so they said they didn’t need special language to eliminate the tax if the convention center plans die.
“We support the extra penny as long as it’s used for the expansion of the convention center and common areas,” said Ina Lee, representing the Broward Workshop and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce. “The industry is very concerned about putting this penny on if it’s not used for the expansion — and the marketing we’re going to need. … It’s not OK just to build it, we’ve got to make sure they come.”
The expansion is planned for the center on the south side of the Southeast 17th Street Causeway in Fort Lauderdale. The plans also include the construction of a hotel on the site.
The total project has been estimated at $550 million. Developer Matthews Southwest Holdings Inc. originally said it would seek a $90 mil-
lion county subsidy to build the hotel. That cost would come on top of an estimated $200 million the county would pay for the convention center expansion and $30.3 million it has already agreed to pay to buy out the lease hold on the land where the hotel will be built.
Currently, 75 percent of the tourist tax is used for items like beach renourishment, marketing by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau and convention center operations. The remainder goes to the county-owned BB&T Center, which is home to the Florida Panthers professional hockey team.