All right. Good afternoon, everyone. This is for a special workshop the city commission is having. Uh we're having a special guest speaker to come in and speak with us this afternoon. Um so we will go ahead and kick things off.
Ma'am, uh where would you like to be? Would you like to stand up at the podium there? Feel free to introduce yourself and uh the floor is yours. >> Jennifer Vigil. destination, Panama City. Um, I'm the CEO there. I've been the inaugural CEO for the last 10 years
since it's been around. Um, and I'm here basically just to help answer any questions. I came and gave a presentation um probably about two months ago now to the entire commission about the city's ability to initiate TDT
activities because you have some tourism partners, short-term rental partners that have been asking for it for a number of years. So, we figured it'd be best to educate you and let you know what was available and then uh help out in any way we can.
>> Awesome. So, commissioners, what questions do you all have? >> My main question is um with the bed tax, right? Let's say uh there's a bed tax, which from what my understanding they're actually asking
for at the one hotel we have. Um does that money go directly to promoting just Lindhaven or does that go into like a pot of the greater TDT area that anyone can use?
So, um that would be a to be to to be determined kind of situation because you have the ability of uh basically petitioning the county only counties in the state of Florida. So, only the 67 counties have the ability to leverage a
tourist development tax. Um and then it is the clerk of court that collects that tax in Bay County. So, you have the ability to go on your own and say, "We want to create our own Linhaven destination marketing organization." Um,
I when I was here the last time I told you I didn't really recommend that because based on the one hotel you have and um, you know, you have more uh, short-term rentals, Airbnb, VBO, then you actually have hotel room lodging
nights. So you really wouldn't have the app appropriate infrastructure to have a board of directors and to pay staff. So the better option for you would probably be to ask the county to extend the
footprint of destination Panama City and increase that area. in which case the funds that were collected within the city of Linhaven um would actually go into the bucket of
destination Panama City. Much like your utility district doesn't match the exact footprint of your city limits. You have some uh water and sewer customers that are actually outside your city limits. The same way uh tourism works, a tourism
destination marketing organization boundary does not necessarily follow the same lines as a municipality. >> Are are the funds from the taxes collected are they restricted? Do you have to spend them on certain things?
>> So the funds from the tourist development tax are restricted by chapter 125.0104 of the Florida statute. It specifically outlays what um the destination marketing organization can use those
funds for. Um 40% of those funds currently are uh committed towards promotion and marketing of the destination marketing area of that footprint. Um and the other 60% go to things like operational costs and
destination development. Would our would our um would our spring concert series be under the guise of a something like that? That would it would you know cuz it's an
event that that would hopefully >> uh so yes and no. You would be eligible. You would not necessarily get funds. So the city itself, you as city commissioners would have no say in how
the money is spent because it is destination marketing organizations have their own boards and they generally have tourism industry professionals, restaurant tours, uh hotel years, things like that on the board. um and what it
is for destination Panama City currently. Let's say the scenario was you petitioned the county, you put it on a referendum, your citizens wanted it and you got um added to the footprint of destination Panama City. Currently,
there exists an event assistance funding program and event assistance funding it is criteria. It's competitive and it's scored. So the city of Linhaven could be an applicant but so could a regular
citizen of Linhaven. So um I think one of the criteria that is um most important though is you would look using um uh geospatial data on how many tourists actually attend your um spring
concert series. If it's hyper local then it wouldn't meet the criteria of promotion and marketing. Um, next question for me. I'm sorry if I'm but um would we uh if we did petition or if we did ask and did
referendum, would we as a city somehow get representation on a board? >> The city of Linhaven would not. And it's purely based on the number of uh room night room night inventory you have. Uh right now the city of Lin Haven
has one hotel. The city of Panama City has uh 30. So um the board itself is not representative of municipalities. I it's kind of hard to wear two hats, but the
way that uh tourism boards work based on the Florida statute is the tourism board representation is made up of a county commissioner um and representation of the largest
municipal collector and then tourism partners. So as the if you joined destination Panama City Footprint, you would be a minority partner. >> Understood. Just a question. Um
>> that doesn't mean that let's say a a restaurant owner, >> right? An entity or >> an entity within the city of Linhaven because they fall in the >> like our new event center basically they might want to >> Atlantis. Correct. >> Yeah. >> Right. So if there is a board vacancy,
they could always apply for that seat, but it doesn't necessarily give a Linhaven commissioner access to a seat on the board. It's not like the TPO where everybody gets a seat. >> No, I I was just hoping that Linhaven would get some in some shape or fashion.
doesn't have to be one of us or anybody representing this city, but someone like someone from Atlantist or someone, you know, someone from the wing gate or someone, you know, someone who can who can uh possibly show representation once we join, you know,
>> and I would just tell you this, the way that they we just had vacancies on our board and we had to take applications and fill them. It's a commitment just like all of you know how much time you spend on city commission meetings and all of your other meetings. It's a commitment. So,
>> I'm coming off in a year. I might be looking for something to do, you know. >> So, I what I what we always tell people is if they want to serve on the board, they should probably spend a year or two attending partner engagement meetings and board meetings so that they
understand how it works. Um, it's not too often somebody runs for city commission never having been to a city commission meeting before. Right. >> Usually, it's usually better for them to get a firm understanding of what they're putting themselves into. >> Well, that's that's just good info here
in the last couple minutes. That's all I got right now. >> Sir, >> so the way I understand it is it doesn't cost the city anything because you get the the funding from the bed tax from the one hotel we have and the short-term
rentals, >> right? Um, and we and if we do what you recommend, we don't have to have our own board like other cities when their own DMO has their own boards. >> Most counties in the state of Florida just have one board. Bay County is very
unique that we have three. We have Mexico Beach, we have Panama City, and we have Visit Panama City Beach. And they're all independent destination marketing organizations. >> Mexico Beach is a third a quarter of our size. So, >> but it's mostly short-term rentals. They
they actually generate over a million dollars a year in um tourist development tax where when I ran the numbers for the city of Linhaven based on um conservative occupancy numbers and the number of room nights you have, it would be less than $200,000.
Yeah. Um, the reason I bring that up is, uh, to me the the biggest one of the big factors to determine whether we want to do this is the one hotel that we have, it's
going to affect that hotel. And from what I understand is that person's been in favor of doing this for quite a few years. And the reason I bring it up, and I wish Commissioner Tinder was here because I want I want to ask her too, but I want to ask you, Commissioner
Pero, because you've been on the board longer than any of us. Has this topic have ever come up to you as far as possibly doing this? >> The only person that's ever mentioned to me is sitting over there at the computer. That little lady right there
talked to me about a bad tax a few few months back. So, it was I thought it it might have came from her, but she was the one who said that it' be something that we that we need to move to. So, >> but before that, you never heard of it.
>> Uh, I heard I knew I knew of a bed tax, but I thought we already had one with our one hotel. I thought hotels automatically through the state had to pay the bed had to pass along the bed tax. >> So, bed tax are county leveraged. The hotels have to pay regular sales tax
just like any other business. This is an additional tax. So for example, if you go and you stay at a hotel in Panama City, you're paying the regular sales tax, the halfsent county taxes that we have for school board and infrastructure. And then you're also
paying a 5% uh tourist development tax. Right now, your hotel is probably right around um uh well, you guys don't have the one penny, so your hotel is probably at about 7 cents 7% tax. And um moving
into uh a tourist development tax, the hotel would actually collect 12 or 13 uh% sales tax and 5% of that would be directly paid to the Bay County Clerk of Court. And it's a it's a it's a net for
the county, but that hotel, that one hotel, it opens up as it opens up a window for them to be seen through the TDC. >> So, it really helps, you know, as a as it helps them get um hopefully more
occupancy, you know, and more people coming to Linhaven. >> What about >> I'm sorry. So besides from a couple months ago, no one ever from the city or anything came to you, approached you about this because the reason I'm asking this is >> he's been asking for years.
>> Yeah, he's been asking for years. He's come to the city going, I want you to do this and I don't understand why it never came to the commission. >> I >> So that's why I wanted to ask you for if you ever >> I've never met any one person. And I mean, I've talked to people at the front desk at the Windgate before, but no
one's ever came to me and spoke to me directly that I know that I know of with my with my memory being the way it is and having had, you know, I honestly I believe I mean off the
having >> right >> because once you're on life support, I think Okay. >> I've never I've never met an individual owner of the wing gate. I mean, I've met
uh a manager and a front desk person, but no one's ever approached me and said, "Hey, I really wanted us to sign up for a >> I was looking more like this like a city employee um approaching the commission about it." >> No, the only the only employee of the city who who talked to me was Miss CJ
over there. and we were we were talking about possibilities for, you know, for for gaining revenue for the city or something like that. And I I I remember we were we were just having a conversation in and you I was borrowing a pen or something. We were talking, forget when it was, but
>> Okay. the the hotel year contacted me. They thought that we were membership based, which we're not. Um, our boundaries are defined by Bay County, and I directed them to Ben Jenkee and Miss Gainor. So, I I just don't think we should stifle
business in in our city like that, you know, even though we we have our fits with short-term rental sometimes, you know, with with with some of the stuff that happens and whatnot, but still it's it's a it's a it's a it's a it's a win-win in the long run, I think. So,
>> I mean I mean if the hotel owner was against it and and that I would I would probably feel different about it, you know, I'd be like, "Okay, you know, if I don't have the support of the one hotel we have in Lin Haven, >> maybe this isn't the best idea." But if the hotel owner wants it, I don't see
any any any con to to doing this. >> Well, not just the hotel owner, the the the rental, >> the short-term rental and the event center. I mean, >> well, they won't pay anything. Well, they won't pay anything, but but eventually
uh hopefully they'll bring events that will be tourist targeted. You follow me? >> Oh, yeah. >> So, that that's a good thing, too. You know, >> I would want to explain what one of your obstacles are. Well, you do have uh an indust industry professional in the
hotel general manager who understands um a tax collected is not theirs to keep. It's always a pass through. Many times with short-term rental operators, they do not feel that way. They feel as if
they are having to collect a tax and then they have to pay it out that you're taking money out of their pocket. So, there will be a burden of education um with the city. Um when the city of Panama City did it, they engaged with Bay County Chamber of Commerce to help
educate the citizens that it is a pass through tax. It's not something that's kept by the property owner. It's not something that takes anything from the bottom line of the short-term rental owner. But, um, that is sometimes very challenging to, um, uh, get across.
>> Well, I I actually I'm going to disagree with you. I'm going to tell you what, but you guys tell me what you think, but from the feedback we've had about short-term rentals in Linhaven, I think they would look at it as a pro. >> But I I just >> I do, too. And I I believe that people
that they people that have the short-term rentals in Lynhaven probably have some in Panama City, too. So, >> they I a lot of them do whenever I'm asked to speak at a lot of the Airbnb gettogethers or the VBO gettogethers. And sometimes when they're a new
short-term investor and they have multiple properties, there are aloves like Linhaven where there is no tourist development tax, but then they might have a condo on the beach or a unit in St. St. Andrews or something like that. And for them, it's very challenging to
understand why it's one county and it's different tax based on the address of where it is. So, um, those that are, like I said, industry professionals that have a little bit of knowledge about it, but when you have a new person and you're like, "Hey, we're forcing you to
raise your rate by 5% and by the way, you have to pass that 5% through." Sometimes they see that as a challenge, but it's really um it's not coming out of their pocket. It is a tax just like any other sales tax. It's a pass through. Um so, but it does require some
education. So, educational component is a huge aspect of going down this road. >> But how does that tax get initiated once we if we ever we we agree to do this? How does that come down? and they're like, "Okay." >> So, a couple years ago, the legislature
changed the way the tax can be implemented. And anytime a new tourist development tax is implemented, it requires a referendum of the people that it will affect. So, if you were looking at just the city of Linhaven, it would have to go on a ballot. It would be a
binding referendum where um the city of Linhaven and like I said perhaps maybe the Bay County Chamber of Commerce could help with educating citizens concerning uh issues that are on the ballot and then when those election results come in uh you would take those results if they
were favorable to Bay County and you would say we would like to initiate bed tax. Um, for Panama City, I believe the election was in the fall, so they initiated bed tax as of January 1st that initial year. So, it wasn't a full fiscal year that first year, but you
basically have to identify when the tax will take effect. >> When that gets voted on, is that the whole entire county or is it just Linh? It already exists. It's only for the people that is that the new tax is impacting. So, like when the city of Panama City went through this process,
the tax already existed on the beach. It already existed in Mexico Beach. It was only on citizens that live and vote in the district of the city of Panama City that saw it on their ballots. >> Okay. >> Could Could we make the deadline for August election?
>> Um I think >> I think we could, but but we I think the piece that it's very important is the education piece. We want to make sure we have enough time for the educate the people one and two I know they're trying to line up. Callaway, I think, is
another one that's looking at doing this. So, if if and there's elections in April, too, I believe. So, I think you'd want to line it up with that. So, that >> we've got four meetings. We got two in April. We got two in May. >> Right. >> If we do it though in the in the April
of 2027 election, that gives us almost 12 months of educating, teaming up with the Chamber of Commerce to to get that education out there. >> And if Callaway is trying to do it too, then you'll have multiple municipalities You killed two birds with one stone and they can help publicize this whole thing
for us. Right. I got that right. >> Correct. When the city of Panama City did it, Carol Roberts was the chamber president at the time at the Bay County Chamber and she really championed the effort. Um the way it started, if you don't recall the previous presentation,
um we were seeing a mass exodus of businesses from the Panama City Mall and the 23rd Street area in the early uh 2010s, late uh 2000s. And because Carol was the chamber president, the community
tasked her with finding out why Panama City was the only dying city in Northwest Florida. And what she came back with is we were missing a very critical revenue stream of being able to promote and market. Sitting as elected officials of Linhaven, I absolutely know
that you struggle with the hurdles of limited budget and limited funds. So having to come up with money to market and help your small businesses, this is that revenue stream that has no impact on your local residents. >> Let me ask you about that. So we all
have families here. We all have families that come in from out of town for graduations or birthdays or whatever. If I wanted to escape my hanging out with my father-in-law for the third or fourth night in a row, right? And I wanted to go to a local hotel or one hotel and get
a extra room for the night. U as a local, am I paying that bed tax? >> You are paying that bed tax. There's no way for the hotel and the short-term rental um operators to identify who is local and who is not. um not even with the driver's license.
>> They they don't do that because they have to report to the clerk of court and they have to remit those things to the clerk of court. Um and these are all um I think the best way to say it is proprietary taxes. For example, I can tell you exactly how much money came
into destination Panama City during the month of January in terms of tourist development tax, but I can't tell you how much each individual property owner paid. And because that is considered proprietary, the Marriotts and the Hiltons of the world don't want each
other to know what kind of business they're doing and they're privately held companies. So all of that is proprietary and the clerk of court will sit on that information. So they're not going to put identifying information into the tourist development tax collection. You're
either tax exempt or you're a taxpayer and that is it. >> So who are tax exempt then? >> Uh regular 501c3s. If you have a church or school that comes in, >> municipalities, those kind of things, right? >> Yep. >> Official government orders. >> Correct. >> Okay.
>> We love people that take stations though. >> I guess the question I was trying to get to though is once once this passes referendum, how do how do the businesses know, okay, you got to start charging um the bed tax? So, they do register with
the clerk of court has a has a website where Airbnb property owners and hotels, anybody that is a collector of the tourist development tax would register and it gives very explicit instructions on how you report each month. Um, and
it's usually pretty easy. uh and they actually have software that helps them um identify the clerk of court is responsible not only for collection but also enforcement because like everything we have sometimes businesses that don't pay taxes so the clerk of court is
responsible for that. So, like the Airbnb website, they they would get notified and they automatically add it into their fees and that or >> uh No, it's usually um Airbnb actually has a lengthy litigation history with uh
the state of Florida. There have been some counties that have settled um but Airbnb does not want to give um they want to give a bulk payment. So, let's say you have five short-term rentals that are all signed up with Airbnb and
Airbnb makes all of their collections. What Airbnb would like is to make one lumpsum deposit at the clerk of court's office, but that nullifies the clerk's uh duty and ability for enforcement because they don't know who is individually paying those taxes and they
can't go back and do an audit. So, um, there has been, uh, um, litigation throughout the state of Florida on that. On the Airbnb website, what it says is all Florida state taxes are collected and remitted. This is not a Florida
state tax. This is a Bay County tax. It is a local option tax. So, Airbnb and hotel years have to be astute enough to know as business people, they are responsible to make those payments. And that again is part of the education
component that you would be um participating in. >> So theoretically Airbnb would know that the tax is implemented and they'd let the people that are registered with them that they >> they they might and they might not. Um
Airbnb actually because it is worldwide, they're not paying any attention to what Bay County or any other county is doing. But what Airbnb does is it um very much like if you subscribe to any software sometimes they have knowledge groups and
user groups. So we actually have a lot of Airbnb owner groups and they have meetings and education and things like that among themselves. So that information spreads relatively quickly among the private owners about the local
requirements. So, as you are familiar with Bay County intimately with this, I'm assuming you've done snapshots with the Airbnb website. How many we have in Linhaven? What was your latest snapshot in terms of numbers of short-term rentals?
>> I think you had just about 80 80 to 90. And it the snapshot can look different on any given day. Let's say you're a property owner that um is a seasonal resident. You own a house here. You live
here during the winter, but you go back to your home in Indiana in the summer and you rent it out. Um that means that you like flip a light switch. So unless your Airbnb is actively rentable, it's not going to show up on that snapshot.
So the number does fluctuate. Um, but I think when we looked at it, you had just about um 214 216 room nights or accommodations and that includes your hotel. So, um the
difference in that is the on andoff Airbnb VBOS's. >> And how many hotel rooms does our one hotel have off? >> I I honestly can't remember. I think it's >> 30 40ish. >> No, I I it's more than that. I think it's uh either 64 or 80, I think.
>> Never had to stay there. My father-in-law's actually stayed there, but >> tell why you use that example. >> Exactly. >> Mary, if I may, a couple I've got a few questions as well. Um, so if something like this is implemented, does it ever show or are there statistics to show
that it can attract more hotels to be built or developed in our city? Um, if we were to go this route. >> So, anytime you are talking to a potential developer, um, if it is a hotel developer, they will ask you if
you have a tourist development tax in place because they know that that is built-in infrastructure to support tourism. So that's it may they may not be looking for a metric. It might not uh be a a a definite number on the rubric of how they're scoring whether or not to
make their development here, but that is a plus in your favor when you have a a tourism infrastructure in place >> for let's so say they're looking at the highway 77 corridor and you have Panama City who does and Lin Haven who does not
currently. >> Mhm. if they were trying to make that decision within, you know, a mile difference, they would typically lean toward the city who does just because that's going to help them in the future. >> If all other things were equal, they
would lean towards the one that had the tourism infrastructure in place. Um, other components that might go into that is how easy it is to work with your building department, how easy it is to get your development orders passed, the timeline of how long those kind of things take. Um, it has 69 rooms at the
Windgate. >> There you go. Learned something today. >> If if the decision is made to move forward with this or or to put this on the referendum, do you typically see where like Airbnb or VBOS's or any of the other companies campaign against it?
>> Oh yes, absolutely. >> Um, absolutely. Just like uh people will some vote for one politician and some vote for another, there are people that are absolutely against any tax of any kind. >> Now is that though the so an individual
property owner who puts their their home on Airbnb? Are they campaigning against it or is it the company actually who has very deep pockets campaigning or hiring lobbyists to campaign against it? >> Uh we generally don't see the larger companies. Um, I will say, um, uh, very
recently in Bay County history, we were eligible as a county, um, for what's called the sixth cent. And in Florida, if your tourism development tax, your aggregate tourism development tax from
all of your DMOs, if it is over $40 million, then you are an a high impact tourism county and you are eligible to leverage a sixth cent um that went to
the Bay County Commission um in July of 2024, I believe, or in June of 2024 because the deadline was July 1st and um they had the opportunity to implement the sixth descent countywide and there were
uh property owners um the uh larger property owners that stood up and opposed the sixth cent um and then they it did get voted down by the county commission. I think all of the county commission supports tourism in general,
but without having um defined projects of what that 6 cent was needed for, um they weren't willing to in initiate another and leverage another tax. Um because I no uh elected official
wants to vote for a tax regardless of whether or not it comes from the pockets of the people or the pockets of the visitors. I guess the I'm probably going to regret saying this, but I guess the way I look at it is anytime you have a tax or a fee
or something where you have people outside of the area, especially out of state, paying for it, to me, that helps us, you know, have I'd rather have someone outside the state helping to fund stuff for us than our own.
>> That helps us. >> I think that's the selling point, >> right? Yeah. I think that's a selling point and the fact that it helps your local small businesses. So regardless of the fact that maybe restaurants or art galleries or the Kaleidoscope Theater or things
like that, they wouldn't pay into the tax, but they would definitely benefit from the marketing and promotion that happens as a result of it. >> So one of our things that's constantly growing in Glenn Haven is our our sports and rec program. So, we have great facilities and the ultimate goal is to
hopefully, you know, invite more tournaments and and travel ball in here, whether it's, you know, baseball, softball, hopefully one day soccer, um, basketball and volleyball in our gym. If this is implemented, does that allow us the opportunity to
provide or or go to fight for some of this funding to help improve those facilities and use this tax for facilities such as that that would bring in more and maybe, you know, put a hotel out near our sports park or or closer to it. >> Um, so it wouldn't help with uh putting
a hotel out near a sports park. And the amount of money collected by the destination Panama City DMO is not really um I mean I think we collect 1.8 million a year. So it's not to a point where there are so much available funds
that capital infrastructure projects can be used. But what we have implemented that allows us currently to help with those uh tournaments because tournaments absolutely put heads in beds and their families which is what we all want. Um
we have the grant support schedule grant sports support schedule. So anytime a tournament is coming into the city of Panama City right now, all they have to do is show that um x number of teams uh
came from 50 plus miles away. Generally um what is considered in the industry as a visitor is someone that has traveled more than 50 miles because the likelihood that is they will probably spend the night. So if uh let's say there we just had a wrestling tournament
that brought um 35 teams from greater than 50 mi away. I think they had 64 teams at that wrestling tournament. Um but 35 of them were outside the 50 mile mark. They were able to submit and say we brought in 35 teams. We would like
the grant support schedule. And each year the board approves what dollar amount goes with how many teams come in based on budgetary availability. >> So just to clarify, if we join now, we have two options. We really could set up
our own board of directors even for small potatoes. We could do that. >> Um or we could join in with the larger Bay County infrastructure that's already in place. Um if we do that, we're still a small fry, right? and and their frivat
if you will. So we will have the opportunity to we would definitely be giving funds in but there's no distinct other than visibility and advertisement there's no concrete tangible benefit we would get back right away we would just
be eligible to apply for different funding opportunities. Is that right? >> So I think you're looking at it with your city hat and not your business hat. So what tourist development tax does is not necessarily
alleviate the municipal budget. What tourist development tax does is help tourism industry >> right? So in ter like if you were um let's say a small restaurant in Linhaven
you would is the minute you became a partner of destination Panama City you would be added to the website you would be added to the social media rotation you would be added to all the pitches and blogs and everything else that go out and we actually are very um uh
responsive to all of our tourism partners and um if you were the owner of Beef Bradies and you called and said, "Hey, Jennifer, I want to know what Destination Panama City has done for me lately. We actually have a CRM database
that lists um that you're on the website, that you're in the visitors guide, that you're um listed in the top 10 restaurants blog, that you went out to this many pitches, and we're able to show those business owners the marketing efforts that happen on their behalf
because a lot of small businesses don't have the funds for a marketing budget. >> So, this is more spotlight support. This is more I don't want to say attracting but marketing. Yeah. Just >> hey come check out Len Haven. >> We are promotion and marketers.
>> Along those lines you said all of your marketing partners. How do you all intersect with the TDC? >> The beach TDC. >> The Yes. >> Okay. So I always explain it like an umbrella. Um in every county there's
only one TDC. Okay. So in the organizational chart, we're going to have the citizens of Bay County. We're going to have the Bay County Commission. And then beneath them, there is an advisory board called the Tourist Development Council. Bay County Tourist Development Council.
Beneath that there are three destination marketing organizations. There's Mexico Beach, there's Destination Panama City, and there's Visit Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau. Where people get a little bit confused
is that many years ago when they first instituted the tourist development tax, they only applied the tax to the island of Panama City Beach. So RA and they wanted to make it a 501c3 so it could
operate in a streamlined fashion and more in terms of a marketing agency rather than create two boards, a Bay County Tourist Development Board and then a Visit Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors. Those individuals sit in both
seats. So, a lot of times when people say Bay County TDC, they're talking about visit Panama City Beach and their um geospatial activations, but the Bay County Tourist Development Council is actually an advis
an advisory board where Mexico Beach destination Panama City and the CBB we every year we're only uh funded by annual contracts through Bay County. We're all 501c6s, so we're not exactly nonprofits. We're quasi governmental, so all of our books
are open to the public. We're uh required to do public records laws and operate in the sunshine. Um, but every year we have to create a program of work and a line item budget that goes first to our board of directors, then it goes
to the Bay County Tourism Development Council for their approval, and then it goes to the Bay County Commission for the final approval. >> Gotcha. Thank you for that clarification because that was lost to me. >> It's very confusing. I think uh in the
history of Bay County um our forefathers thought that tourists only went to the beach. So they just put the tax on the beach because they didn't want their friends and family that were staying in local hotels to have to pay that tax. So they just put the tax on the beach. But
then Mexico Beach about 5 years later, Mexico Beach popped up and said, "Wait, we get tourists." And so they initiated a a DMO for Mexico Beach. it. There was a 25-y year gap between the time Mexico Beach destination marketing organization
and destination Panama City was created. So, there's a big gap. We had a long way to go in terms of catching up with our counterparts. >> Thank you for that, >> Jent. Any other questions?
>> Unrelated to Lin Haven, but just for clar do RV parks like there's a lot of RV parks on the beach. Do they count on under this? They do. Even the state park does. Yeah. >> So, um boat, uh transient boat slips, like when we had the full service activated marinas, we actually had boat
Airbnbs where you could stay on like a mini yacht. They also paid um uh tourist development tax. >> Okay. And then you said the city of Callaway is pursuing this. How many hotels does Callaway have right now? >> I believe Callaway has four. And I don't know where they are in the process. um
much like uh the city of Linhaven, they have hotel years that actually come to our partner engagement meetings and try to get education and and information on what's happening in the tourism and uh world. And um so we went and gave the
same speech that I gave previously here I gave to the city of Callaway, the city of Parker and the city of SE uh Springfield. So >> doesn't Tindle have a hotel? Tindle has a 300 plus room hotel that is should be
opening during the month of April. Um, and I think that is um, >> uh, nerve-wracking for a lot of the short-term rentals and hotel years that are outside Tindle Gates because it will compete with private sector business.
>> Would that be would that hotel because it's on a base, would it be exempt from taxes? >> It's exempt from the tax. it. We can't charge a tax on federal land >> that you require military access for that ID. So, you'd have to be active, retired, reserved, national guard, something.
>> Correct. >> 100% disabled veteran to qualify for that. >> The the um the $200,000 estimate that you did or just under $200,000 that included the current hotel and the footprint of the 80 to 90 short terms
that are currently advertised or or that the estimate is. >> Yes. >> Okay. H >> I'm trying to think where four hotels are in Callaway. I guess they're all up in on the business 98 street >> all along Tindle Parkway right there. And they're building another one currently.
>> Yeah. And Parker is getting a Marriott closer to the Dupont Bridge. They have a Marriott development order in. I don't know how far along that is, but >> Those are all fairly small hotels though, right? Or are they about the size of >> They're about the size of your Windgate.
>> Okay. We have at least one with over a 100 rooms. I know that on our board um we have two seats for uh collector seats and one seat has to be a large collector which is more than 100 rooms and the other seat is a small collector less
than 100 rooms. So Callaway um that one hotel does qualify if they ever sought to pursue a seat on the board if there was a vacancy. CJ, do you have any questions? You're part of the team here?
Anybody got any other questions, city manager? >> Um, do you have any questions for us? >> No, I don't. If there's anything you need, I've already met with Commissioner Warick. So, if you guys have any questions, I brought business cards.
again, travel a lot promoting Bay County, but uh I always answer text emails and I try to make myself available when I'm in the community. >> They finally got that road done for you, didn't they? >> Oh, my parking lot's open. Yeah, the relief. We're back to normal working.
>> Yeah, we really appreciate the two visits and all of the information. >> Absolutely. >> Definitely in data collection mode at this point. There's um I I will also say one of the things that we do that helps our um our
tourism partners, our industry partners. Um and it we also use it to help the city with their parks. We use geospatial data like Placer and things like that. I can actually draw polygons or identify a business and I can tell you how many PE
it just I just did it for the um the downtown farmers market and the St. Andrew's farmers market to uh you know they're going for grants to do certain things and a lot of times when you're applying for grants you need to have information uh scientific information about how much foot traffic there is how
much spend there is uh what percentage of a local business is funded by local dollars versus um visitor dollars. I can tell you in Panama City if we stopped having visitor dollars tomorrow we would
not have the restaurants and retail that we have. >> You do that based you say geospatial. So is that cell phone signals and based on area codes or >> uh there it's um it is cell phone it uh cell phone location data. It's also
credit card transaction data. Um, anything that near and um, uh, for velocity and uh, there's a lot of data wholesalers that people can get information from.
>> Thank you again. We really appreciate you. >> Yeah. No, it is a non-negotiable. When the county levies the tax, everybody within that district that performs that specific activity is required to pay it.
>> So, the clerk of court is responsible for enforcement and they do have penalties assessed. All of that information is on the clerk of court website where you go to register. Um they do have uh I I know I see it broken down in our allocations how much they
collect versus how much was penalty because they'll say sometimes they'll have uh staff turnover and a hotel won't get their bed tax remitted before the they have to remit it before the 10th of the month of the following month. So the
hotel year or the short-term rental would collect it for from March 1st to March 30th and then they have from the 1st of April to the 10th of April to reconcile their books and make their tax
remittance to the clerk of court. If they don't make that tax remittance by the 10th, there is a penalty that they pay and the clerk of court um identifies that as separate than TDT revenue. just don't see how it's
I mean every restaurant in Linhaven gets gets a gets a punch in the arm from marketing for TDC if we if we join um you know every every entity that that promotes tourism would would would fall under some kind of umbrella of some kind
of marketing help from from your efforts which is strong. I mean, you know, when you're looking at, you know, helping helping people in those in in that way, it's it's great. And what what what's going to bring more
business like that to Linhaven, you know, that that it's it's it's creating a good climate. Um, it's a no-brainer for me. I think we should do everything we can to to move it move it forward. Educate educate our our our electorals
and get this thing on a on a ballot. So >> yeah, >> my recommendation would be you go to the Chamber of Commerce and get them to add it to their white paper, their legislative white papers >> does Missy or do we do we just do that and push it?
>> That would be communication to to Mr. McCamry with the chamber. >> Al. >> Yep. Good old Al. >> Al's great. >> Al's awesome. >> I like working with him. >> Oh, I Yeah, I've worked with Al's wife before, too, with her. She's a PE teacher. So,
>> yeah, I agree. >> She played on UG golf. She was a She was a She was on the golf team at University of Georgia. She could hit a golf ball, boy. >> Yeah, I agree with everything you said. I I just wish I just wish we had this talk a lot earlier and look at if this
is something we wanted to do, made this decision a lot earlier cuz think about if we already had this >> man. Yeah, >> it it would >> we'd be ahead. >> Definitely help with the land. >> We'd be ahead of the curve on a lot of stuff. You know, Diego Diego's opened over a year ago. I'm sure they I'm I'm sure they they belong. They have two
other they have two other locations, you know. I'm sure it It only helps um every everybody. And I'm not just talking about restaurants. I mean, it's just, you know, the hotels, the short-term rentals, you know, any
anybody, you know, tangible or asmmptoic to to to those industries, any anything that brings heads and beds, right? So, you're you're >> they say a great place to live is a
better place to visit. So, the idea of tourism is that we're able to have amenities in small communities that we otherwise would not be afforded. Um, we would not have a symphony if it weren't for tourism. We wouldn't have, um, a lot
of things that we have if it weren't for tourism. So, uh, we enjoy being part of the economic driver that is the state of Florida. >> Thank you so much for your time this evening, ma'am. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. With that, we'll uh if
barring any uh extra reattachs from you guys, we'll uh we'll close this workshop. >> Would you if there's anything that the commission would like staff to to consider as from this workshop. Just think about it and we'll discuss it at the at the April 14th commission
meeting. uh for so if there's any direction or anything that's the commission would like for staff. >> We should probably uh not only coordinate with the chamber and your team, but also do a invite our one hotel owner to come speak. Invite the local
leadership of whatever the local bed and breakfast or BBOs are. Have them come in and speak. Some are going to be for, some are going to be against, but let's hear them out and ask them their opinions before we jump on this. and uh make sure they feel heard and
contribute. Okay.