Collier to ask voters for 1% tourist tax hike to finish sports complex, fund other needs

To complete Paradise Coast Sports Complex, promote it and fund other tourism-related uses, Collier County registered voters will be asked to increase the county’s tourism bed tax by a penny, to 6 cents. 

If voters pass it during the Nov. 3, 2026, general election, Collier would join 12 other Florida counties bringing in the maximum tourist-development tax imposed on visitors who lease rentals of six months or less, including hotels, Airbnbs, mobile homes, recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds. Because the state Department of Revenue found Collier qualifies as a high-impacttourism county, it can boost its 5-cent bed tax by a penny. 

The Board of County Commissioners on July 8 unanimously agreed to advertise a hearing to vote on an ordinance that will add the extra penny andplace the question on next year’s election ballot, move forward with building a 10th sports field using available TDT funds and accepted a Tourism Impact Study on Paradise Coast Sports Complex and its expansion, allowing tourist-development taxes to help fund completion. State law requires a study to prove it brings in tourist dollars.

The vote came three months after the increase was recommended by the county Tourist Development Council. 

“If we don’t approve this sixth penny, there is no way to move forward with completion of the Paradise [Coast Sports Complex],” Chair Burt Saunders said before the vote. “Now, this sixth penny will generate somewhere around $9 to $10 million a year, and only about 70% of it can be used for a project like Paradise Coast. 

“Go build that field as quickly as you can,” Saunders urged Deputy County Manager Ed Finn. 

TDT collections for fiscal year 2023-24 totaled about $48.6 million, but can be affected by hurricanes, politics and economic factors. 

Saunders noted there will be “plenty of money” available from that extra penny for additional advertising and for other projects, including beach renourishment. If voters approve it, the tourist tax would rise to 6 cents on Jan. 1, 2027. 

But Saunders said the increase won’t be possible without a campaign to educate voters by the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association.  

FRLA Regional Director Chris Lopez told commissioners, the audience and others watching on Collier TV, that it will be a “tremendous opportunity” to educate everyone and invest in the future of many projects. 

“This will be certainly an opportunity for the industry to get in front and educate our electorate that this is not a tax on the citizenry of Collier County, this is a tax on every visitor that comes in and spends one night in a hotel or a short-term rental of less than six months here in Collier County,” Lopez said. 

State Department of Revenue records show 12 counties currently collect 6%, including Lee County and counties Collier considers comparable, Palm Beach and Sarasota. Some collect the minimum, 3%.

The state statute specifies uses for the first three pennies: paying debt service or operating facilities that bring in tourists, including convention centers and sports stadiums. Those pennies also can be used to promote and advertise tourism and convention bureaus, finance beach park facilities and for beach maintenance, renourishment and restoration. 

Authorized uses for the fourth penny are professional sports–facility debt, operating costs of convention centers financed with tourist taxes and promoting and advertising tourism. Collier is using its fourth penny to repay the sports complex debt, a project expected to cost $150 million. The fifth penny also can be used to promote and advertise tourism. 

The sixth penny has the same uses as the first three. To qualify, TDTs must exceed $600 million, or 18% of total taxable sales. Collier’s 2023-24 fiscal year collections translated into roughly $1 billion in sales. 

The complex, located off Collier Boulevard near Interstate 75 in East Naples, opened in 2020, and was later hit by cost overruns, supply chain and pandemic problems, contractual issues and mistakes. The second phase was completed in October 2023.  

The complex features nine synthetic turf fields and a 3,500-seat stadium, Cove Beer & Wine Bar and The Factory open-air fitness pavilion, which includes an obstacle course, weight room, resistance equipment, fitness pods and running trails with workout stations. The complex also features a 13-acre man-made lake and beach volleyball. The park has been used for Independence Day drone shows, concerts and numerous other community events. 

Phase three includes the field commissioners approved this month, along with a building, parking and restrooms. It’s estimated adding another field will provide a 22% increase in hours for local programming and $31,680 in revenues; additional field rentals for at least 34 weekend events will bring in $34,000; an 11% increase in food and beverage sales, about $200,000; and additional sponsorships, parking revenue and hotel commissions, boosting the revenue impact to $300,000. 

Phase four would add 11 multipurpose fields, restrooms and other facilities, and Phase five would include an indoorsports fieldhouse for volleyball, basketball, pingpong, pickleball and other sports.  

Since taking over management in 2021, Clearwater-based Sports Facilities Cos. turned a profit the next year and continues boosting profits, including through food and beverage sales and commissions from referrals to hotels. It’s reached capacity and often has to turn away teams and events. 

Naples United Football Club, a semi-professional soccer club in Naples, offers a soccer academy and a non-profit foundation, Soccer for All, that works with at-risk, low-income and homeless kids, giving them an opportunity to participate free or at a very low cost.

The team’s founder and director, Veronica Docio, told commissioners they need more fields.  

“Right now, I have 12-year-olds training at 10 p.m. because we don’t have enough fields,” Docio said. “Part of our growth this year was within Youth Haven and Salvation Army. … Now we have to come up with creative ways with Paradise Sports Complex to be able to accommodate those kids within our program because of the lack of the fields, so Naples is growing tremendously. … We need to keep these kids playing soccer and participating in sports and away from the streets, the couch, the TV, the drugs and everything that comes after.” 

Although commissioners cited concerns over a $2.3 million deficit and continuing maintenance needs, Adrian Moses, who manages the complex for Sports Facilities, assured them its contract terms are based on a completed complex that would generate higher profits.  

“The whole plan was to have the facility in its entirety to make sure that it wasn’t a burden,” Moses added. “We are at our capacity at the moment. We’re getting very, very close to being in that crossover point where it can stand on its own two feet legitimately.”