Pinellas County is setting tourism records, and that means money is flowing from the 5 percent resort tax on hotel rooms and other rentals. But there still are more ideas for spending that money than revenue from the tax, including increasing advertising and building new sports venues. When county commissioners tackle this issue Tuesday, they should avoid changes in how the money can be allocated that would limit their flexibility and make it harder to pay for worthy projects.
The commissioners put off this decision in December, but a slightly revised recommendation from the Tourist Development Council still would lock in too much money for advertising. The TDC, which is dominated by tourism professionals, wants 60 percent of the resort tax to be reserved for advertising and promotion. There would be more demand but less money to spend on pro sports stadiums and convention centers than the county has been spending to pay off bonds on Tropicana Field and on spring training facilities in Dunedin and Clearwater. This is not the best approach if Pinellas and the city of St. Petersburg hope to help pay for a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays.
There will be other demands for the money as well. For example, Dunedin is expected to ask for roughly $50 million in bed tax money to help pay for a new spring training home for the Toronto Blue Jays. St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman wants to build a small baseball facility, and the Tampa Bay Rowdies have an eye on resort tax money that would help renovate and expand their home at Al Lang Field. While the Clearwater Marine Aquarium abandoned plans for a new downtown building, there will be other projects besides sports stadiums that will want resort tax money.
A better plan that has been supported by Kriseman and some county commissioners would limit spending on capital projects to 50 percent of the resort tax revenue. That would offer more flexibility, but even in this scenario commissioners should be wary of dividing that capital money into too many arbitrary pots that could make it hard to respond to changing circumstances.
The resort tax situation would be clearer if the Rays and the city of St. Petersburg could break their stalemate over letting the franchise look in both Pinellas and Hillsborough counties at potential sites for a new stadium. The Tropicana Field bonds financed by 1 cent of the resort tax will be paid off later this year, and it would be helpful to keep that revenue stream in place and available if the decision is to build in Pinellas. But the St. Petersburg City Council's stubborn refusal to approve a deal negotiated by Kriseman and the Rays to look for stadium sites in both counties likely means much of that resort tax money will be spent on other projects before there is clarity.
The assumption is that Pinellas could help pay for a new Rays stadium by raising the resort tax to 6 cents, but that is no sure bet. The Rays saga is just one reason why county commissioners should avoid rigid allocations of the resort tax Tuesday that would limit their flexibility. Rather than be constrained by arbitrary limits, they should be able to respond to new opportunities that arise to invest in projects that draw more tourists and enrich life in Pinellas.