Brevard County finalises million dollar budget for Lagoon projects

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Brevard County tourism department has finalised its plan for targeting $1 million in the new budget year for Indian River Lagoon-related projects. The money will be generated from the county’s 5 percent Tourist Development Tax on hotel rooms and other short-term rentals. The Brevard County Tourist Development Council voted unanimously last week to split up the money three ways:

 
• Up to $650,000 would go toward projects that would require at least a 3-1 match of money from other sources, such as the federal, state or a municipal government, an academic institution or another organization. For example, a $100,000 grant would need a $300,000 match from non-county sources.

 
• Up to $250,000 would go toward projects seeking grants of no more than $50,000 apiece that would not require these matching funds.

 
• Up to $100,000 would go toward communications efforts related to public awareness about lagoon projects, their status and their importance, as well as the tourism impacts of the lagoon.

 
The Office of Tourism estimates that tourism is a $2.1 billion-a-year industry in Brevard County and the Indian River Lagoon is a $1.3 billion economic asset.

 
In a parallel effort, the Office of Tourism is working with the Florida Inland Navigation District to help develop a lagoon communications plan for the 2019-20 budget year that would be partially funded by $95,000 from the that state agency.

 
The application process to seek the $900,000 in project grants opened Monday and will close on Nov. 7. The grants must be for projects that demonstrate a benefit to the health of the Indian River Lagoon and a positive impact to Brevard County tourism.

 
The money specifically would come from the beach fund, which gets 25 percent of Tourist Development Tax revenue.

 
Tourist Development Council member Bob Baugher, a hotel owner who chairs the council’s Marketing Committee, said it is important to have the 3-1 required match for the larger grants because that’s similar to the match the county gets for beach re-nourishment projects that use the largest share of the money from the beach fund.

 
The Beach Committee will evaluate and score the grant applications in early December, then present its recommendations to the Tourist Development Council on Dec. 19. Individual grants of more than $100,000 apiece also would need approval of the County Commission.

 
Florida Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, said he is supportive of the program. A bill that Fine pushed in the 2018 Florida Legislature session helped pave the way for use of Tourist Development Tax money for lagoon-related projects.

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