Within the newest twist in how Brevard County spends tourism tax cash, three long-running occasions that convey 1000’s of holiday makers to the House Coast will now not obtain grants from the county.
For no less than two of the occasions, the truth that the organizer inadvertently offended Commissioner John Tobia apparently contributed to the fee turning down the grant requests.
Commissioners did approve a $50,000 grant for the 2024 Thunder on Cocoa Seashore powerboat races and $25,000 subsequent 12 months’s House Coast State Honest at House Coast Every day Park in Viera.
However commissioners turned down grant requests for the Brevard Renaissance Honest, the Cocoa Seashore Triathlon and Duathlon and the USA Seashore Operating Championships.
Organizers for these occasions declined to offer detailed line-item monetary info, a brand new requirement this 12 months for the grants.
Extra:Brevard tourism grant packages making a comeback after modifications by County Fee
These organizers mentioned the transfer may have a chilling impact on main tourism-drawing occasions.
Renaissance Honest organizer Pete Moolhuizen mentioned the truthful will go on subsequent 12 months regardless, however could not happen in Brevard in any respect after 2024.
“I am not going to get the county all my monetary info. My objective is to place heads in beds and to not inform the county how I make and spend each greenback,” Moolhuizen mentioned.
District 3 Commissioner John Tobia singled out the Cocoa Seashore Triathlon and Duathlon and the USA Seashore Operating Championships, whose organizer, Mitch Varnes, despatched an electronic mail to the opposite 4 commissioners explaining that his group’s practices had been proprietary so as to keep aggressive.
Varnes thought it pointless to incorporate Tobia on the e-mail chain since commissioner routinely votes in opposition to such grants.
That did not go over effectively with Tobia. He mentioned he would vote for each different grant if the opposite commissioners would comply with deny the grants to these organized by Varnes.
“I believe it is extraordinarily disappointing that that is allowed to occur. For a profession politician like John Tobia to shoot down my occasion as a result of he will get his emotions harm by me not sending him a letter,” Varnes added. “He is a despicable politician whose constructed a profession on his personal self-worth and cares little or no for his constituents.”
Cash for the grants is generated by the county’s 5% tax on resort rooms and different short-term leases.
For years, the County Fee routinely awarded grants to quite a lot of occasions that met sure benchmarks in drawing vacationers, with the grant quantity tied to the variety of guests the occasion drew.
However the grant program got here underneath fireplace earlier this 12 months when Florida Rep. Randy Wonderful raised issues concerning the LGBTQ+ group House Coast Pleasure qualifying for a $15,000 cultural grant for its 2024 Pridefest occasion in Melbourne, primarily based on the occasion attracting greater than 1,000 out-of-county guests.
Wonderful has had points with earlier Pridefests together with a Drag Queen Story Time. Nevertheless, Drag Queen Story Time was not a part of the most recent Pridefest, held Sept. 23.
County commissioners say Pridefest performed no function of their preliminary choice to finish cultural grant funding, contending their motion was primarily based on their want to search out more cash to fund an expanded ocean lifeguard program to assist stop drownings.
After a public outcry, commissioners backtracked and started awarding the grants once more, however with with new situations, reminiscent of he required monetary stories.
Varnes in his letter to the county outlined why he felt the brand new necessities had been misplaced:
“I consider any earnings or losses of an occasion ought to have little bearing on tourism grants. The pandemic was notably onerous on dwell occasion producers, and plenty of sporting occasions are nonetheless effectively beneath their pre-pandemic numbers. Any grants I’ve beforehand acquired have been justified, valued and at all times an vital a part of mission success.”
“It should drive individuals away from producing occasions on this county,” Varnes mentioned.
Tyler Vazquez is the North Brevard and Brevard County Authorities Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or [email protected].
Tobia, who usually votes uniformly in opposition to all public grants and tax abatements of any form, made an unorthodox declaration Tuesday in response to Varnes’ electronic mail. He mentioned he would vote for each different grant if the opposite commissioners would comply with deny the grants to these organized by Varnes. Sending an electronic mail to Tobia was a moot level to Varnes, who believed Tobia couldn’t be persuaded on the matter both manner.
“Contracts with sponsors are proprietary. That is the way it at all times is. This isn’t a part of the tourism grant standards and by no means has been,” he went on.
District 1 commissioner Rita Pritchett added at Tuesday’s conferences that the occasions had been positives for the county with good monetary impacts however that she needed to make use of additional warning when spending taxpayer {dollars}.
“I believe we’re making an attempt to get this just a little bit tightener in how we’re giving out taxpayer {dollars}. I do wish to make the assertion that these operating occasions put individuals in beds,” Pritchett mentioned.
