Revenue collected by deadline for reports down nearly 60% from October 2023 tally
With the October start of the 2025 fiscal year, Sarasota County has continued to see a month-over-month decline in its Tourist Development Tax (TDT) — or, “bed tax” — revenue, as noted in the latest reports released by Sarasota County Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates and her staff.
The collections in October added up to $1,019,607.63, which was down by $1,516,488.02 — nearly 60% — compared to the $2,536,095.65 total for October 2023.
The county did experience Hurricane Helene in late September, which likely led to cancellations of rentals of accommodations. Then, on Oct. 9, Hurricane Milton came ashore on Siesta Key, inflicting more damage on that island before jinking left and heading over the city of Sarasota. The 6% Tourist Development Tax (TDT) is charged on rentals of hotel and motel rooms, homes, condos and other accommodations for six months or less time.
The funds are used for a variety of purposes laid out in a county ordinance. Those range from beach maintenance and renourishment to upkeep of the two Major League Baseball Spring Training stadiums and the county’s $20-million commitment to help pay for construction of the Mote Marine Laboratory Science Education Aquarium near Nathan Benderson Park and the Mall at University Town Center.
The month-over-month drop for October of this year is even higher than the fall in revenue from October 2022 to October 2023, the Tax Collector’s Office has documented. As the first month of the 2024 fiscal year, October 2023 saw $2,421,548.28 in TDT revenue turned over to the Tax Collector’s Office, as noted in the initial report. By the time the last reports were released for the 2024 fiscal year, the October 2023 figure had climbed to $2,536,095.65, as noted above. The total ended up being lower than the October 2022 amount by $1,000,401.68.
Among other details of the latest data, the city of Sarasota was the source of 51.73% of the funds collected for October. That compares to the unincorporated county, except Siesta Key; the county accounted for 30.64% of the revenue. For Siesta, the figure was 3.7%.
In contrast to the data in the first “Location” report for the 2025 fiscal year, the Tax Collector’s Office noted that, in October 2023, city of Sarasota hosts were responsible for 27.39% of the revenue; for Siesta, the figure was 22.78%.
Typically, Siesta Key hosts of accommodations and those in the city of Sarasota vie each year in a figurative battle to see which will end up with the largest percentage. Siesta won for the 2023 fiscal year, based on the reports that the Tax Collector’s Office released last month. However, Siesta was devastated first by Hurricane Helene’s storm surge in late September and then by Hurricane Milton’s storm surge and winds on Oct. 9. The island still is in the recovery phase.
Residents and visitors were advised to evacuate the island before Milton hit, as the storm at one point was a Category 5 in the Gulf of Mexico and forecasts warned that it could create storm surge of up to 15 feet on the county’s coastline.
After Milton struck, the county’s Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Department had to close Siesta Public Beach facilities to the public until Oct. 26.
Yet another related detail in the new reports is that rentals of accommodations through online platforms — such as those provided through TripAdvisor and HomeAway, plus all of their subsidiaries — accounted for only 4.58% of the October bed tax revenue; the amount was $46,659.64. Again, the lower figures for this October likely are a factor of the storm effects.
The online platform tally for October 2023 represented 24.97% of the total: $604,549.17.
Further, no separate figure was provided for the Airbnb revenue for October this year, even though the company is the sole one among the online platforms to have given the Tax Collector’s Office permission to list its collections separately.
In October 2023, the total brought in by Airbnb hosts was $479,904.65.
In response to Sarasota News Leader questions about the October TDT reports, Sherri Smith, chief deputy tax collector, wrote in a Dec. 6 email, “It appears the postal service may be having delivery delays,” which resulted in October’s revenue being lower than expected. While “some TDT payments were mailed and postmarked timely,” she added, the office staff did not receive them and validate them until after the Nov. 30 deadline for data to be included in the reports.
Further, Smith noted, “I made the decision to remove Airbnb from that report” since its total could not be verified by the deadline, either. “The Airbnb total will be back on the next and all other reports,” she added.
One other detail of the latest reports is the fact that the 2024 fiscal year total has climbed slightly. It is $48,275,344.76. The previous reports put it at $48,133,858.15. Thus, the new number is up almost 0.03% from the prior one.
Tax Collector Ford-Coates and her staff have explained that audits and other enforcement actions can lead to changes in the amounts from month to month.
Along with the regular updates from the Tax Collector’s Office, Visit Sarasota County, the county’s tourism agency, provides its own set of information that it receives from a Tallahassee firm, Downs & St. Germain research.
However, Erin Duggan, president and CEO of Visit Sarasota County, told the News Leader in a Dec. 6 email, “We have a new platform that we are utilizing to help pull numbers. October is the first month we have had access to this new data.” She and her staff had just received the report from the firm, she continued. Therefore, Duggan wrote, she and the staff wanted “to spend another week or two investigating [the data] to ensure that they are indeed factual.”