Flagler County tourism officials have made great strides over the past few years, not only in how grant money is disbursed but in the overall approach to marketing the county as a destination.
With the unanimous vote by county commissioners Monday to begin the process of collecting bed taxes paid by visitors at local hotels, campgrounds and vacation rentals, Flagler County took another giant step forward.
For Matt Dunn, executive director of the Flagler County Tourist Development Office, the change has been a long time coming.
“In our current process, our lodging partners remit to the state and the state has to go through their process and by the time the funds get to us, it could be roughly about two months later,” he said.
That time lag is important because bed tax collections provide funding for marketing efforts, as well as grants for special events and the discretionary budget used to attract events to the area or create new ones like the recent Coquina Cup in Flagler Beach.
But there is an even deeper significance to the county’s decision to take over the collection of bed taxes. It is a sign of the maturity of Flagler County’s tourist development effort and an acknowledgement that sometimes if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
By moving to self-collection, the county streamlines the remittance of bed taxes and takes more control over local disbursement. It also means that Flagler County officials are serious about the importance of tourism as an integral slice of the economic development pie.
According to Dunn, a lot of properties that should be paying the 5 percent bed tax are not, mainly because owners are unaware of their responsibility to do so.
“We do have indications there are bed tax properties that are not remitting, and in most cases it is just because they don’t know,” he said. “So it’s really a policing policy we are looking to put into place.”
By taking over collection of bed taxes, the county can take a more proactive approach to ensuring all resort property owners contribute their fair share.
Dunn said currently if a property owner does not pay the bed tax, the state sends a letter after 30 days to remind them and typically follows up with another letter after 60 days.
With the county Tax Collector’s Office handling the process, owners of subject properties can be contacted directly and payment secured in a more timely fashion. That makes it an even playing field for all lodging partners and keeps the tourist development effort well-funded. It could also increase overall revenue.
“I think we will see the total amount collected increase because we’re going to have more properties come online,” Dunn said.
That can only be a good thing for the tourist development effort — and the county’s overall economic health.