- April 15, 2024
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Local organizations putting on small events in Flagler County are accustomed to being able to apply for tourism development grant money. It hasn't been much: $2,500 through the county's Tourism Development Council for events that bring in 25 to 74 "bed nights," or overnight stays, in local accommodations.
The standards just got stricter: In the future, only events bringing in at least 50 bed nights will be able to apply for the money.
"We are giving away far too much money … for the return that we would like to see," Tourism Chief Matt Dunn told the County Commission at a County Commission workshop April 19.
Dunn wanted to eliminate the grants for all events that bing in less than 100 bed nights.
Commissioners weren't convinced.
"At the end of the day, if a small event brings people in, we’ve got to account for that," Commissioner Nate McLaughlin said. "We can’t just say, 'Well you didn't get your 100 beds, you don’t get the money.'"
And, he said, it can be difficult for organizations to prove how many bed nights their event actually produced. "We’ve seen it in the past; it’s very difficult to verify 100% of the room nights," he said.
Flagler Beach City Commissioner Kim Carney, who attended the workshop and spoke during its public comment period, agreed with McLaughlin, noting that not everyone who comes to town for an event stays in a hotel where verifying their stay may be simple. Many stay in condos or vacation rental homes, which can make them hard to count.
"With the overnight stay grant, verifying stays is very difficult. ... How do you get a condo owner to confirm an overnight stay?" she said. "This is not broken. Leave it alone."
McLaughlin also pushed back on Dunn's proposal to cut back the minimum amount for TDC "quality of life" grants from $1,500 to $1,000 and cap the number of years an event could receive the grant at three. Dunn and Craig Coffey, the county administrator, said the reduction would allow the TDC to award a higher number of grants. McLaughlin agreed to $1,250; the three-year maximum was cut.
Steve Wolfe, of the Flagler County Corvette Club, was one of a handful of people who spoke during the meeting's public comment period. He said what the county has already been doing has been working.
"I’d like to know why we're considering cuts to what is apparently a successful model," he said. The proposed changes, he said, would be "a drastic reduction in something that is helping a county of this size achieve growth. It seems to me it should remain in place, or be only marginally reduced."
Dunn proposed having the county itself collect the local tourism "bed tax" rather than having the state collect the money and then distribute it to the county, as is done now. Making that change, he said, could raise revenue by about 20%.
The commission also discussed raising the rate itself from 4% to 5%, but that would need a supermajority vote in a regular meeting to pass, and Commissioner Barbara Revels noted that Flagler Beach was recently recognized by Trip Advisor as an affordable vacation destination. That issue needed more discussion before the commission makes a decision, she said.
The commission also approved the addition of one new full-time staff member — a tourism marketing advertiser — to the TDC’s current staff of five, and approved the purchase of about $300,000 worth of stadium equipment, including hydraulic bleachers, floodlights and barricades.
