BAY COUNTY, FloridaWMBB) – Bay County commissioners voted to reallocate funds for the stagnant beach replenishment to the public safety budget.
Every time someone rents a hotel room or apartment in Panama City, Panama City Beach or Mexico Beach, they pay a bed tax. In Bay County, the tax is 5 cents for every dollar, with each cent earmarked for specific purposes. The third cent is supposed to go to beach redevelopment, but it hasn’t been used since 2017.
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“Over the years it’s been collected through the bed tax. The tourism development board has just stashed that money away, stashed it away, stashed it away,” said Commissioner Clair Pease.
The last renovation was funded with state and federal grants, leaving $50 million unspent.
“We didn’t need to use that money for the beach renovation. It just piled up and it was just time to do something with it instead of just letting it sit there,” Pease said.
County officials are putting some of that $50 million toward it. They’re creating a $3.5 million public safety reserve. The rest goes to county reserves, but in the future, 10 percent of the third cent will go to public safety agencies.
“We’re talking about freeing up that money for the sheriff’s department, Panama City Beach Department, water safety, some of it is used for lifeguards. Some of it is used to buy equipment that they need to be able to protect the beach safely. It’s freeing up that money so that they can use it in a lot of different ways,” Pease said.
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According to tourism officials, the extra money will provide a significant boost to these organizations.
“We are very excited to be able to increase the budget from 8% to 10%. The annual budget will go from $2.6 million to $3.2 million. That is about a 25% increase that we are seeing,” said Sydney Clifton, Communications & Social Media Manager at Visit Panama City Beach.
Most of the $50 million remains in reserve for future emergencies, such as natural disasters.
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