On Friday, the TDC officially voted to fund our request for bed tax! The TDC voted to accept the $290k we requested for recurring operations and maintenance expenses on the beach accesses and walkovers with another $190k for capital outlay pending, but very favorable. Another $42k was also approved for the Destin Fishing Museum. The next step is the Board of County Commissioner's approval at the budget hearings, though that *should* be a formality.
After spending untold hours going line item by line item through the TDC budget to determine the items for which we should be receiving funding based on expenditures to and funding of other localities in our TDT district, I am very pleased to see these much-needed and deserved funds coming to Destin. Of course, final approval comes from the BCC as I mentioned above.
After I met with representatives from the BCC and TDC early this year to discuss why Destin was not receiving bed tax funds, I couldn't wait to get back to city hall and start the process of getting our city some much deserved bed tax revenue. Many thanks to our city staff and manager who pulled our numbers together for the formal proposal as requested by the TDC.
This is a great step in the right direction.