Friday, June 14, 2013

Palm Beach County tourism leaders debate how to spend tourism... | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

Kind of hard to justify funding the Lake Worth pool at the beach with this money as some suggest.  It looks like the County Commission has locked up this money for a while.  This is from the article, click title for link:
Nearly half of the bed tax collected goes to luring more visitors to the county, and by law all the tax money must be spent on tourism-related functions. In Palm Beach County, about 40 percent goes to debt for Roger Dean Stadium and the convention center, large infrastructure projects that cater to visitors.
Currently at the heart of the debate is a capital projects reserve fund with $12.5 million. About $4 million is added to the fund each year.
During the recession, $3 million from the fund was tapped for emergency advertising, which helped the industry recover more quickly than most, and in 2009, $10 million was put into a maintenance fund for the stadium and convention center.
Some key hoteliers with the Palm Beach County Hotel & Lodging Association want those idle dollars spent on ads and marketing now.
Roger Everingham, general manager of The Colony Palm Beach and longtime association board member, queried TDC and county officials Thursday about how it is being used.
Jergensen and county Deputy Administrator Verdenia Baker explained that the reserve fund is for capital needs and will be used to renovate the Airport Center in the next three years for bed-tax agencies, and it will be tapped for debt service on a $50 to $60 million parking garage needed for the convention center.