I find it remarkable that the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board published such a one-sided editorial regarding the current discussions by the Orange County Board of County Commissioners about future expenditures of its Tourist Development Tax (TDT) revenues. These discussions have been ongoing for several years, especially since the devastating drop in revenues caused by the onset of a global pandemic in 2020.

Editorial: Rushing into convention center deal won’t fix tourist-tax problems

We are fortunate that due to sound fiscal and managerial decisions that were made by Orange County, our tourism-based economy quickly rebounded, as did our TDT collections. In fact, we have seen historic high collections for the last year or better with over $300 million in annual collections. Even though we saw declines during the months of April, May, and June of this year, with the lowest month of collections occurring in June, the TDT still fell within the 12th-highest month of collections in the 40-year (480 months) history of collections. The good news is that Orange County continues to lead the state of Florida in TDT collections by a wide margin.

Orange County Comptroller releases memo urging cautious tourist-tax spending

Have we rushed into a decision to expand the Orange County Convention Center or any other potential eligible new project to be funded through the TDT? The answer is simple: No!

Factually, I formally began the decision-making process six months ago by forming the Tourist Development Tax Citizen Advisory Task Force in February. This was the first time significant citizen input was sought and achieved as part of the process. The task force met for months and reviewed requests from 52 organizations totaling over $3.5 billion in financial support through the TDT. The Sentinel is right, Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond provided a very conservative estimate of a spending range of $800 million to $900 million that could be made available for bonding TDT eligible projects. The Board of County Commissioners now has the difficult task of prioritizing which projects advance, since the cost of the requested projects far exceeds the county’s capabilities.

The Sentinel got it wrong when they inferred that there was insufficient discussion about return on investment during the August 22 commission meeting. The board presentation included discussion on the economic impact and job creation of the top five projects recommended by the citizen-driven task force. The board also heard from approximately 50 residents concerning their various interests and the basic theme of most of the comments centered around the economic impact of the speakers’ preferred venue investment.

This past week, research by Tourism Economics concluded that Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties’ travel and tourism industry generated a new all-time high of total economic impact of $87.6 billion, which is a 31% increase over 2021.  Perhaps a good question to ask is, how many communities in America would love to have that type of economic impact? I am willing to bet that there would be many such communities. The jobs generated by such an industry may not all be high-wage jobs, but many are more than just low-wage jobs. They often create pathways to a better life for many people, as well as entrepreneurial opportunities. I know because one of my first jobs was as an hourly theme-park worker, as is the case for tens of thousands of Orange County residents.

The Orange County Convention Center is the business anchor for the hotel, restaurant, amusement park and other businesses in the International Drive corridor, which supports approximately 90,000 workers. We should all work to preserve the competitive market edge that we have, which keeps a vibrant and thriving workforce. There are countless families counting on the leadership of our community to make sensible choices that protect their livelihoods.

Commentary: On tourist tax, the status quo has a price

Appropriate TDT investments can help us improve our arts and cultural experiences, preserve jobs and/or create jobs and enhance our quality of life. Simultaneously, we should continue our efforts to also diversify our economy with new industries that pay better than average wages. But we must protect what we have.

There has been a lot of chatter about what our community should be doing to address homelessness and whether TDT revenues could be used to help address the problem. Current Florida law does not allow TDT revenues to be used for social services, but our residents should be reassured that at each commission meeting, we address issues such as homelessness, social services and land use, to name a few. Through our “Housing for All” Ten-Year Action Plan and a commitment of $160 million, we are addressing the affordable housing crisis and we are spending millions in support of the Homeless Services Network. Through the federal American Rescue Plan Act funding, we have aggressively addressed individuals and families at risk of being evicted. A $40 million allocation has kept more than 15,000 individuals in their homes through the Orange County Emergency Rental Assistance program.

An easy way to pay for affordable housing | Commentary

The editorial in question also inferred that Orange County officials are “tied to a handful of consultants” and are not independent thinkers. Well, I can’t speak for any of the other officials, but I can assure you that I remain unbought and unbossed by any consultant or business, including the Orlando Sentinel.

Do we always get it right? No, but we work long hours trying to make the change needed.

Jerry L. Demings was first elected Orange County mayor in 2018 and re-elected in 2022.