ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings will deliver his sixth State of the County address Friday morning, detailing the successes and challenges faced in 2024.

Last year's theme focused a lot on taking the county to the next level. Demings shared goals to make broadband more accessible in underserved areas, more affordable housing throughout the county, addressing crime and much more.

What You Need To Know

  • Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings is holding the 2024 State of the County address Friday morning

  • Previously, Demings has discussed issues ranging from affordable housing to crime and tourism development tax dollars

  • TDT dollars were down this April, 9.9% compared to last year's April numbers, which also were down

  • This year's State of the County address is taking place at the Orange County Convention Center on Friday

However, one of the biggest takeaways last year might have been related to state politics and its impacts on tourism. 

Just before the 2023 State of the County address, Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond released the tourism development tax (TDT) data from April. The numbers were down 3.5% in 2023 compared to 2022, but the county still racked up more than $30 million in TDT collection, which Demings said was still record breaking.

When asked what he believed was the cause for the lower numbers, he attributed the dip to the political climate in Florida at the time. 

It is known that just prior to that State of the County address, at least two organizations pulled out of hosting major events in Orlando. That was confirmed by both Demings and the Orange County Convention Center. The TDT report released for that period also indicated that hotel occupancy was down to 77% last year, compared to the nearly 83% occupancy the previous year.

In this year's TDT data release for the month, the numbers continued to trend downward, with April 2024's numbers dropping 9.9% compared to last year's.

Diamond shared that, once again, a few things could be responsible for this change, including the timing of Easter, which fell in March this year, and spring break vacations. April's total TDT numbers were $30,304,800.

According to the release, this year's nearly 10% drop in TDT dollars is the largest monthly dip the county has seen since February 2021.