After going back and forth on the issue for the past year, Brevard County could again begin funding smaller cultural groups with tourism tax money.
At a workshop discussion Thursday afternoon at the Brevard County Government Center in Viera, representatives of those groups implored the county commissioners to reconsider rule changes that rendered many groups ineligible for grant money last year.
Thursday’s workshop was held after the previous Board in November delayed allotting $805,000 to eligible cultural groups to allow newly elected Board members to make the decision. That came after a decision to give the grants only to events that draw large numbers of out-of-county visitors.
Funding for cultural grants comes from money generated by Brevard County’s 5% tourist development tax on hotel room rentals, vacation rentals and other short-term rentals.
Smaller groups cut out
While 27 cultural groups are eligible for grant money under current rules, there are many more who have been excluded that would have been eligible in the past.
In total, there is approximately $100,000 remaining of cultural grant money left over as a result of many groups being deemed ineligible due to size requirements.
That money could be divided evenly between the five county commissioners to disburse to cultural events in their respective districts as a way to compensate smaller groups who missed out on grants for the current fiscal year.
Thursday’s decision will need to come before the Board of County Commissioners at its Jan. 28 meeting.
At that meeting, the Board will decide if eligible groups whose events have already taken place will receive reimbursement.
At that point, the Board will determine if events that have already taken place will be eligible for reimbursement and if smaller events will again be eligible for grant money.
Rule changes that said grant money could only be used for marketing may also change again to allow groups to use money for more specific needs.
The commission also signaled that, pending a discussion of the Tourism Development Council, the rules could be changed once again to include some smaller groups attracting fewer than 5,000 visitors.
Dave Hudson, president of the Melbourne Municipal Band, said groups like his are “invaluable cultural assets” for the community. “With the abrupt loss of state and county funding, our income has dropped dramatically whereas our expenses have only increased,” Hudson told the Board at Thursday’s workshop.
Hudson’s group was one of many who easily met the criteria of attracting 1,000 out-of-county attendees under past iterations of the grant program. The new criteria, he said, was “somewhat arbitrary” and overly onerous for groups such has his.
Annita Full, treasurer for the Green Gables, the historic home and museum dating back to 1896, backed organizations like hers that have previously used marketing money to draw tourists to Brevard but have since become ineligible.
“Just because our visitor demographics are not large enough to qualify for the current grant does not mean we’re not an important part of Brevard County’s tourism economy,” Full said.
“All we’re asking is to let us share in promoting Brevard County,” she added.
Commissioner Thad Altman, who previously served on the Board when the grant program was created over three decades ago, said his desire was to “follow the intent of the program” which is to use a portion of tourism tax dollars to generate even more tourism for Brevard County businesses.
Commission chair and District 4 commissioner Rob Feltner said the county does have leeway to address the needs of those smaller groups. “We have time as a TDC to address some of these smaller groups and figure out how to fill that hole,” Feltner said.
Feltner committed that the Tourism Development Council, on which he serves as the Commission chair, would address whether cultural groups would be eligible for reimbursement for marketing and other expenses from TDC funds.
“When people come here, one of the first things they ask is, what kind of stuff is there to do here,” District 1 commissioner Katie Delaney said.
Last year, guidelines for which events could receive tourism tax dollars for marketing changesd pushing many smaller groups out of contention for money many claimed was necessary to promote their events.
In previous years, smaller events with a minimum of 1,000 out-of-county attendees could receive $10,000 in grant money from the county. The Board of County Commissioners last year voted to award grant money only to larger events drawing over 5,000 out-of-county visitors, making them eligible for $50,000 in grant money.
Space Coast Office of Tourism executive director Peter Cranis said it would ultimately be up to the commissioners to determine how grant money could be used.
Commission Chair Feltner said now that the Board had new membership, it was time to review best practices again for the grant money, signaling that things could open up again depending on future votes. “The prior board didn’t award that money… that may be behind us. I’m looking at what’s ahead of us,” Feltner said. “I think that’s something the TDC could work on and discuss this spring.”
Tyler Vazquez is the Brevard County and North Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or [email protected]
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