Gabrielle Russon
As the Orange County Board confronted Visit Orlando about a critical audit, some Commissioners said they are alarmed by the tourism marketing association’s lobbying efforts and the millions of public dollars that auditors have said should be returned to public coffers due to years of misspending.
Assistant Comptroller Wendy Kittleson said Visit Orlando may have misspent an estimated $20 million dating back to 2019, as the organization misappropriated private funds and the proceeds from the tourist development tax (TDT), which is a 6% countywide hotel tax.
“Those TDT funds could help us reduce our bonds, could go to arts, could be reallocated for many things,” said Commissioner Mayra Uribe, reacting to the auditors’ update. “It’s $20 million, and it shouldn’t be taken lightly.”
Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad said she found it inappropriate that Visit Orlando spent more than $100,000 on lobbyists and $28,000 on an event rental in Tallahassee during Committee Week.
“Visit Orlando absolutely has a purpose and nobody here thinks that it doesn’t. The question becomes, ‘Is it a $115 million purpose?’” she said, advocating for hotel tax reform.
Orange County officials have not forgotten a tourism lobbying scandal last year. Former Sen. Linda Stewart went behind the county’s back to work with an Orange County lobbyist — who also worked for the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association — to draft a bill to protect Visit Orlando’s funding.
But not every county official was outraged Tuesday over Visit Orlando. Some took a more subdued approach, saying they felt the audit’s results were more subjective and that county staff would address any issues now.
Commissioner Christine Moore acknowledged the board was divided philosophically on how to spend the hotel tax money.
“Today is about what happened with the audit,” Moore argued.
She said the issues raised in the audit and the review of Visit Orlando’s contract were best left to be sorted out by county staff and county attorneys, rather than being brought to the County Board level.
“It’s important that we don’t overdo our observation and accountability,” Moore said, adding, “We’ve been here for hours.”
To the County Board, Visit Orlando CEO Casandra Matej responded that her organization is willing to make changes and is hiring an internal auditor for increased oversight.
“We viewed this audit as an opportunity to learn and improve during the 19-month-long process. We worked collaboratively and openly with the comptroller’s office, providing full access to our staff, our records,” said Matej, Visit Orlando’s leader since December 2020. “We’ve already worked through and resolved many of the new requests made by the Comptroller and acknowledge that there were opportunities for us to improve policies and processes.”
She has continued to make the case that Visit Orlando plays a significant role in growing Orlando’s tourism economy, which creates a multibillion-dollar economic impact.
In the end, the Orange County Board took no action on Tuesday and is expected to revisit the issue in December, when the county confirms more information, including the estimated $20 million in misspending. Orange County staff and Visit Orlando will continue negotiations over how much hotel tax money needs to get repaid and other matters in the contract.
“Our Board of County Commission needs more discussion, quite frankly, on the Board’s position about what any changes in the agreement needs to look like,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said.
The discussion over Orange County’s 6% hotel tax is taking place amid a broader landscape where some officials want to allocate the hotel tax for public transit and other needs. Gov. Ron DeSantis is also pushing for DOGE, which is making local officials mindful of spending government wisely.
