BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – In the latest twist in how Brevard County spends tourism tax money, three long-running events that bring thousands of visitors to the Space Coast will no longer receive grants from the county, according to News 6 partner Florida Today.
For at least two of the events, the fact that the organizer inadvertently offended Commissioner John Tobia apparently contributed to the commission turning down the grant requests.
Commissioners did approve a $50,000 grant for the 2024 Thunder on Cocoa Beach powerboat races and $25,000 for next year’s Space Coast State Fair at Space Coast Daily Park in Viera.
But commissioners turned down grant requests for the Brevard Renaissance Fair, the Cocoa Beach Triathlon and Duathlon and the USA Beach Running Championships.
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Organizers for those events declined to provide detailed line-item financial information, a new requirement this year for the grants.
Those organizers said the move could have a chilling effect on major tourism-drawing events.
Renaissance Fair organizer Pete Moolhuizen said the fair will go on next year regardless, but may not take place in Brevard at all after 2024.
“I’m not going to get the county all my financial information. My goal is to put heads in beds and not to tell the county how I make and spend every dollar,” Moolhuizen said.
District 3 Commissioner John Tobia singled out the Cocoa Beach Triathlon and Duathlon and the USA Beach Running Championships, whose organizer, Mitch Varnes, sent an email to the other four commissioners explaining that his organization’s practices were proprietary in order to stay competitive.
Varnes thought it pointless to include Tobia on the email chain since the commissioner routinely votes against such grants.
That didn’t go over well with Tobia. He said he would vote for every other grant if the other commissioners would agree to deny the grants to those organized by Varnes.
“I think it’s extremely disappointing that this is allowed to happen. For a career politician like John Tobia to shoot down my event because he gets his feelings hurt by me not sending him a letter,” Varnes added. “He’s a despicable politician who’s built a career on his own self-worth and cares very little for his constituents.”
Money for the grants is generated by the county’s 5% tax on hotel rooms and other short-term rentals.
For years, the County Commission routinely awarded grants to a variety of events that met certain benchmarks in drawing tourists, with the grant amount tied to the number of visitors the event drew.
But the grant program came under fire earlier this year when Florida Rep. Randy Fine raised concerns about the LGBTQ+ organization Space Coast Pride qualifying for a $15,000 cultural grant for its 2024 Pridefest event in Melbourne, based on the event attracting more than 1,000 out-of-county visitors.
Fine has had issues with previous Pridefests including a Drag Queen Story Time. However, Drag Queen Story Time was not part of the latest Pridefest, held Sept. 23.
County commissioners say Pridefest played no role in their initial decision to end cultural grant funding, contending their action was based on their desire to find more money to fund an expanded ocean lifeguard program to help prevent drownings.
After a public outcry, commissioners backtracked and began awarding the grants again, but with with new conditions, such as he required financial reports.
Varnes in his letter to the county outlined why he felt the new requirements were misplaced:
“I believe any profits or losses of an event should have little bearing on tourism grants. The pandemic was particularly hard on live event producers, and many sporting events are still well below their pre-pandemic numbers. Any grants I have previously received have been justified, valued and always an important part of mission success.”
“It’s going to drive people away from producing events in this county,” Varnes said.
Tyler Vazquez is the North Brevard and Brevard County Government Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com.
District 1 commissioner Rita Pritchett added at Tuesday’s meetings that the events were positives for the county with good financial impacts but that she wanted to use extra caution when spending taxpayer dollars.
“I think we’re trying to get this a little bit tightener in how we’re giving out taxpayer dollars. I do want to make the statement that these running events put people in beds,” Pritchett said.
The Brevard Renaissance Fair runs on the weekends from Jan. 6 through Feb. 4: Jan. 6-7, Jan. 13-15, Jan. 20-21, Jan. 27-28, and Feb. 3-4. You can find more information at the Renaissance Fair’s website.
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