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County questions 'heads in beds'

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: October 21, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - How many tourists spend the night in Pasco County hotels?

That question lies at the heart of the county's effort to increase tourism and the hotel bed taxes it generates.

The bulk of those taxes, collected over the past 18 years, will finance the $11 million sports complex the county hopes to build with the help of San Diego-based Sportsplex USA.

The county spends a smaller portion of the taxes every year to help the organizers of tourist-attracting events promote their events beyond Pasco. The list of beneficiaries ranges from the 11-day Chasco Fiesta in New Port Richey to the one-day Wesley Chapel 5K Run/Walk.

County officials will gather Thursday in Hudson to discuss ways to expand their tourism options. That meeting starts at 9 a.m. at Homewood Suites, 11115 U.S. 19, Port Richey.

With an eye on increasing hotel taxes, county officials retooled their award process earlier this year to put more emphasis on how many "heads in beds" any given event generates.

Using that new formula, commissioners awarded $53,600 in tourism tax subsidies on Tuesday to 17 event organizers to help defray their out-of-county advertising costs.

The payments ranged from more than $12,000 for Chasco Fiesta to about $600 for the Wesley Chapel 5K Run/Walk.

Those funds were based, in part, on how many hotel stays each event claimed. But it was unclear whether organizers were reporting their hotel stays honestly.

"A lot of the information was false," Karen King, a member of the county's Tourism Development Committee, told county commissioners.

"The amount of heads they say they're bringing into beds, they're not," King said.

King offered no support for her claim, but county tourism director Eric Keaton conceded to commissioners that the exact number of hotel stays remains elusive.

"That's a question that has come up over the years," Keaton said. "How do I verify my room nights? I would say some of these numbers are inflated."

Among the suspect estimates was the 1,000 hotel stays claimed by the organizers of Pasco Bug Jam, a festival celebrating Volkswagen vehicles held each year at the Pasco County Fairgrounds in Dade City.

Commissioners wondered aloud whether Bug Jam organizers and others might be overestimating their hotel stays in hopes of landing more county funding.

Commissioners cast doubts on the Bug Jam estimate, given the short duration of the event and the lack of hotel rooms in east Pasco. Organizers said they had more than 500 VWs participate in last year's show, according to a news release. This year's festival will be on Nov. 8.

"To me, the information being put before us is not accurate," Commissioner Michael Cox said.

By comparison, he offered the 125 hotel stays reported by the organizers of annual Chasco Fiesta, which draws thousands of people each of its 11 days to New Port Richey.

Given the scope of Chasco, and its verified hotel stays, it seems unlikely the Bug Jam could generate the kind of hotel stays the organizers claim, Cox said. Bug Jam officials offered no substantiation for their figure, he added.

Keaton told commissioners he would try to pin down more accurate figures by Thursday, when county officials will meet in Hudson to discuss ways to expand their tourism efforts.

The county doesn't follow along behind events to determine how many people spent the night in local hotels, Keaton said. County officials also don't ask subsidy recipients to detail how they spend the money, he said.

"A lot of these are done in good faith," Keaton said.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 731-8168.

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