INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Tourist Development Council presented budget requests for the 2014-15 fiscal year at the Board of County Commissioner’s meeting on Tuesday morning.
A 2003 vote by Commissioners approved 70 percent of the tourism development dollars go to the Chamber of Commerce and the remaining funds to be allocated to other agencies that submit requests to the Tourist Development Council.
A point system is applied to organizations seeking a portion of the remaining 30 percent of funds in order to determine priority. Funds are distributed beginning with the highest priority organization and continuing down the ladder until all dollars are spent.
This year, Main Street Vero Beach requested $5,000 to be applied to its annual Hibiscus Festival in hopes to make the event more robust and to attract tourists from different parts of the state.
As Main Street Vero Beach came up last in point value on a list of six organizations requesting money, the $5,000 would come from a reserve “fund balance” accumulated during good economic years.
As pointed out by Commissioner Peter O’Bryan, traditionally the Hibiscus Festival has been a local event that has not previously been granted money allotted for tourism.
“I served on the Board of Main Street Vero Beach for years,” O’Bryan said. “I think the Hibiscus Festival is a great event. My time on the Board, the Hibiscus planning was locally based, and it’s a single day event.”
Commissioners Joe Flescher and Wesley Davis both agreed that if appropriate data was provided proving the Festival “puts heads on the beds,” or brings a significant number of tourists to spend money on accommodations like hotel rooms, they would consider voting to allocate tourism funds in the future.
The question as to whether or not Main Street Vero Beach planned on making the festival a two-day event to attract more tourists was posed. The answer given was that a two-day event had not been part of the discussion.
According to the Tourist Development Council, one of the risks in funding a local event like the Hibiscus Festival is blurring the lines between events traditionally self-funded and sustained, like the Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival or the Sebastian Clambake, and events that can and should seek tourism-related funds.
The Tourist Development Council recommended the Board approve approximately $671,000 in funds, requiring an additional $4,000 in fund balance, and to deny the Main Street Vero Beach request.
Commissioners approved the Council’s recommendation unanimously.
