ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A citizen task force examining the most responsible ways to spend millions of dollars generated by Orange County’s tourist development tax produced a ranked list of recommended projects Monday.
A $586 million Orange County Convention Center improvement project topped the recommendations made by the Tourist Development Task Force.
The installation of a roof on Camping World Stadium, renovations to the Amway Center arena, enhancements to the front lawn of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, and the construction of a “sports village” at the University of Central Florida rounded out the top five recommendations.
“We really tried to depoliticize the process so that we could get objective input from our residents about the priorities that they would make for the spending of the tourist development tax receipts,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said.
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Thirty members of the task force completed a survey of about 50 proposed projects, evaluating the proposals on criteria that included the projects’ readiness and return on investment.
By next month, the task force is expected to conduct two additional surveys evaluating the proposed projects.
The Board of County Commissioners, which will make the final decision on how to spend the tourist development tax proceeds, will receive the task force’s recommendations on July 25.
A list of the task force’s recommendations is provided below:
- Orange County Convention Center improvements — $586 million
- Camping World Stadium roof — $800 million
- Amway Center renovations — $256 million
- Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center front lawn enhancements — $145 million
- UCF Sports Village construction — $176+ million
- Mennello Museum of American Art museum expansions — $29 million
- Orlando City Baseball Dreamers domed stadium construction — $975 million
- Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community Zora! campus construction — $87+ million
- Orange County Regional History Center renovations — $52.5 million
- Association to Preserve African American Society, History and Traditions museum renovations — $20 million
- Orlando Urban Film Festival Foundation “Rock-N-Soul” Fest — $20.5 million
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