Budget of Tourism in Florida Bleeds Red Ink

Tallahassee._ The Florida Department of Tourism is faced with finding a way to make the budget numbers balance while trying to ensure that the tourist-based economy rebounds, the Sun Sentinel daily reported.

Revenue from the tax is down dramatically in light of fewer tourists in the area since Sept. 11, county figures show.

Osceola County´s tourism budget, for instance, is short nearly $2.8 million. They said they are considering privatizing the county´s tourism efforts and finding another source of money to supplement the resort tax.

County figures show collections of the first four cents of the resort tax are more than $1.6 million behind projections this fiscal year and more than $1.1 million behind last year.

Last fall, the county took $2 million out of the Convention and Visitors Bureau budget to pay for advertising intended to lure people back to Osceola after the terrorist attacks. The fifth cent of the tourist tax, which can be used only to build sports and convention centers, was nearly $412,000 below projections this year, although leftover revenue from last year put the fund in the black.

The county´s economic circumstances are not as dire as predicted in September, said Dick Hudson, Osceola´s director of financial services. Still, the decline in tourism has pushed collections of the portion of sales tax used to fund roads, parks and buildings nearly 7 percent below projections. The fund is nearly $1.1 million behind this year.

A dramatic reduction in this revenue, half of which is generated by tourism, can hurt the county´s bonding capacity, officials said.

The general operating fund, which is funded mainly by property taxes, also is $1.5 million off, figures show.