Okaloosa County BOCC — March 27, 2014 — Minutes — reading text

Restoration MSBU Ordinance Issues and Present the Information at a Later Date RESULT: MOTION APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Rice SECONDER: Dixon AYES: Empson, Gossom, Guidry, Rigdon, Peterson, Joyce III. Financial Status Update (/Charlotte Dunworth) a. January Month End Tax Revenue Reports from the Okaloosa County Tax Collector Ms. Dunworth briefly reviewed the Tax Collector’s January Tax Revenue Report and noted collections are up about 8% cumulatively year-to-date compared to last fiscal year. Ms. Dunworth commented on a statement by Mr. Schroeder regarding gross rental receipts per room night, the revpar based on the Tax Collector’s report, and stated this information will be provided in financial updates in the future. She added that the Okaloosa County Tourist Development Department Page 4 of 16 March 27, 2014  revpar on condos is up 34% and hotel/motels are up 12%, Destin is up 6%, Okaloosa Island almost 50%, and Ft. Walton Beach 17% in January compared to December data only. She will be able to provide year over year data in future financial reports working with Tax Collector data at least twelve months. In regard to the report submitted, Mr. Peterson commented it is difficult to understand the data without the comparisons in the categories. Mr. Peterson asked if there was a special event that caused the big boost in revenue. Ms. Joyce commented that we have seen a big boost across the board in all of our market not due to just one specific event. Mr. Schroeder reminded Mr. Peterson that these figures were just from December to January. b. March Financial Update Regarding the Revenue Analysis report, Ms. Dunworth reported that we have received about 13% budgeted revenues of tourist development tax, trending in a favorable direction. TDT collections are on pace to come in around $13M on an annual basis. Ms. Dunworth further added that on page 39 of the Strategic Marketing Plan, the amended column for the in-house marketing plan is $4K higher, due to a budget transfer performed prior to the discovery of a variance between the adopted Strategic Marketing Plan and the promotional activity budgets. Staff is currently in the process of reconciling both approved task orders with the revised ad agency Strategic Marketing Plan, as well as reviewing in-house expenses to ensure coding to the correct accounts. Mr. Peterson raised a question regarding the 2nd Percentage report under lifeguards, and asked if we are getting any accounting for the money spent for legal reasons and whether we are receiving a report to reflect this. Ms. Dunworth replied that we do have a contract with the Destin Fire District and stated that they are required to provide a report by the 2nd Friday in November of every year. She will present the report to TDC when received this year, but is not aware if the County will provide any funding reports. Ms. Hoshihara commented she has not seen a report from the County specifically funded for the lifeguard services. Mr. Dixon asked Mr. Peterson to explain exactly what he is wanting to see, public contacts or actual money spent. Mr. Peterson stated that he wants to make sure we are spending the TDT on the certain items the State Statute documents, and that it is TDC’s job to make sure they are spending it on those items. Mr. Dixon added that it has to be shown that it benefited tourism to have lifeguards and that has been determined. Okaloosa County Tourist Development Department Page 5 of 16 March 27, 2014  Ms. Hoshihara explained that the agreement the County entered into with the Destin Fire Control District does require that they provide an accounting at the end of the fiscal year. The Department agreement was entered into three months ago, so there hasn’t been time for them to submit a report. Mr. Dixon assured that all of this money is being spent on beach safety. Mr. Peterson stated that he would like to see a report from the Destin Fire Control District and the Okaloosa County Public Safety Department to justify the expenses. Ms. Hoshihara agreed to provide a report from both departments to submit to the TDC Board as an informational update. Mr. Gossom was concerned that if they are not required to submit these reports (accounting of how funds used) until end of fiscal year (November), that would not help with any concerns in beginning of year. Ms. Hoshihara suggested a quarterly report can be received, if necessary. She further added that they submitted April’s budget that show how those funds will be used. Mr. Dixon cautioned that a quarterly report would not reflect anything being done during the winter, but that spring break would show a little spent and the summer would start showing the most spent. Mr. Rigdon agreed that he would also like to see a report on what can or can’t be done regarding spending this money and needed further explanation regarding the data presented. Mr. Peterson referred Mr. Rigdon to the “Expenses By Level of Tourist Development Tax Restriction” section in the packet that explains the Percentage amounts. He added that the lifeguard issue continues to be an argument across the State and findings are still at the Review Board of the Attorney General. Ms. Hoshihara agreed to provide a bullet item report to the TDC of what the Board has approved. She stated that generally as to all five (5) pennies the statute specifies what each can be used for, adding that the Council has recommended and the board has approved a tourist development plan which goes into more specifics for each of those pennies. The Ordinance is several pages long and Ms. Hoshihara has offered to provide a bullet point list that will summarize those things for the next TDC meeting. Mr. Guidry expressed concern that this issue with the report has been constantly changing with a lot of gray areas in the report. Ms. Hoshihara stated that all of these funds are to be used to promote tourism and clarified it is a legislative determination made by the local governing body, in this case the Board of County Commissioners. Mr. Rigdon was also concerned about security on beaches, and wanted to know what the TDC can and can’t do. c. Expenditure Transaction Analysis • 1st percentage – Dept 1175 Beaches & Parks • 2nd percentage – Dept 1152 Administration • 3rd percentage – Dept 1172 Convention Center Promotions Okaloosa County Tourist Development Department Page 6 of 16 March 27, 2014  • 3rd percentage – Dept 1173 Convention Center Promotions • 3rd percentage – Dept 1174 Convention Center Operations • 3rd percentage – Dept 1177 Convention Center Maintenance • 4th percentage – Dept 1179 Convention Center Capital • 5th percentage – Dept 1151 Tourism Promotion Ms. Dunworth continued her report by stating Florida Statutes require “expenditures which the council believes to be unauthorized shall be reported to the county governing board and the department of revenue.” In order to provide the best info possible to assist in identifying any unauthorized transactions, Ms. Dunworth printed the expenditure transaction analysis from the County’s accounting system as it is one of the most comprehensive reports available. The attached report for the period 10/01/13 thru 03/18/14 is to bring everyone up-to-date and moving forward will provide it monthly in arrears. She will show the full month of March at the April meeting in order to be in compliance with State Statute, as the Auditor General had mentioned. Mr. Guidry stated that there is no way to review this info in this meeting and wanted time to review before the meeting. Ms. Dunworth replied that an email including the packet information was sent and also posted on the website. Ms. Hoshihara stated he was right to raise concerns and if anything is of concern on this report, any Council member can raise the concern at the April meeting. Mr. Peterson confirmed that this info is in the general ledger and confirmed it has gone through multiple reviews, and is how we can review the expenditures. Further discussion regarding the report continued. Ms. Joyce asked Ms. Dunworth if the BP funds deadline has been met. Ms. Dunworth replied it is in process for payment. Mr. Peterson asked Ms. Hoshihara if the TDC is responsible for looking at any of the RESTORE Act monies. She stated there is a RESTORE Act Advisory Council that has been established to review proposed projects and makes recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners. The staff member, Jim Trifilio, added that there is not a process established yet on how County sponsored projects would go before that Okaloosa RESTORE Act Council. They are still in the process of developing a matrix that suggested projects will be filtered through, and then that Council would make recommendations to the Board for final approval. Mr. Peterson confirmed with Mr. Schroeder that if TDC comes up with an idea of how to use RESTORE Act monies and comes up with a plan to present before the Board of County Commissioners and they can move forward with it. In regards to projects submitted by the tourism industry, Mr. Schroeder added that the grading system will Okaloosa County Tourist Development Department Page 7 of 16 March 27, 2014  likely give more credit to environmentally related projects rather than tourist related projects, although he is not clear on how much more