ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County was on par for a record year in tourist development tax dollars, according to comptroller Phil Diamond.
He said due to the coronavirus, tourist development tax collections were down by more than 56% in March. “That was a pretty big reduction.
That was a loss of $17 million or $18 million for us,” said Diamond. “This has been the biggest dollar decrease from year to year since we started collecting the tax, it was huge.
I think April will be even worse because so much was closed.” Diamond said hotels are the biggest contributors to that tax income that supports projects like convention center renovations and funding for arts organizations and downtown venues.