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🧾 Tourism revenues in Walton County are down 9.2% compared to this time last year, prompting serious budget discussions within the TDC.
🌊 Officials are emphasizing the need for stronger reserves and clearer long-term vision for tourism, especially in light of potential hurricane impacts and long-term economic planning.
💼 Tourism supports more jobs than the county’s total resident workforce, with $68 million in annual tax benefits and a $2,100-per-household tax savings estimate.
According to the Walton County Tourism Development Council (TDC) staff, Walton County’s tourism revenues have decreased by almost 9.2% compared to this time last year.
Summer Alford, Budget Analyst from the Office of Management and Budget presented new information to the Walton County Tourism Development Council that painted a bleak picture for the County’s economic engine.
This information comes as the TDC prepares to make its budget recommendations to the Walton County Commission for their Summer budget workshops.
Walton County begins each fiscal year on October 1.
Last year, Tourism Tax Revenues alone accounted for more than $60 Million of Walton County’s budget.
Council Members Brian Moffatt and Bob LaCasse both addressed the budgeting issue before them for the upcoming year. Moffatt opined that the County needed to place more emphasis on reserves. In addition to building up reserves, he noted that the TDC needed to reinvigorate its commitment to storm contingency planning, growth, and clarifying the County’s vision for the future. He echoed Council Member Tim Taylor, who said, “The foundation of our budget should be in alignment with the vision of our county.”
Bob LaCasse agreed that the Council needed to take a hard look at creating a strong vision for where the County wanted to take its tourism industry in the future.
Brian Kellenberger, Director of Beach Operations, talked about his large staff (totaling 60) whose primary responsibility is to keep the beaches clean and maintain the beach and bay facilities in good shape. Kellenberger spoke about the implementation of the Tram System that has been recently introduced to reduce parking issues and relieve traffic congestion at the public beaches. A final component of the Operations Department’s expenses is equipment and all that is needed to perform the work, ensuring our tourist destination functions at full capacity.
The Tourism Department plans to maintain its budget for Fiscal Year 2026 at the current level. The TDC is responsible for approving the annual budget, which must be done at a public meeting, according to Clay Atkinson, Interim County Attorney.
Walton County Tourism supported 33,800 jobs in Walton County. For reference, the US Census Bureau reports that there are approximately 26,000 people with jobs in Walton County currently, meaning that thousands of people outside of Walton County rely on Walton County Tourism for their employment, as well as a vast majority of the county’s population.
In total, the TDC estimates that visitors to Walton County generate about $68 million in net tax benefits to the county, which works out to one in every five dollars of tax revenue. The TDC estimates that tourism saves households in Walton County about $2,100 in taxes every year.
The Council also discussed how the budget is prepared or anticipates a plan for a major storm in Walton County and what reserve planning might look like in the event of a Category 4 or 5 hurricane.
Mr. Atkinson indicated that a proposed budget needed to be presented to the Board of Commissioners (BCC) soon. The TDC voted to meet again to finalize the proposed budget before the end of June.
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