November 4, 2026
The Honorable Buddy Dyer, Mayor
Members of the Orlando City Council
Orlando City Hall
400 South Orange Avenue
Orlando, Florida 32801
Re: Request to suspend the police-protection fee requirement of the After-Midnight Alcohol Sales permit program (Ordinance No. 2023-17; Orlando City Code Sec. 33.03)
Dear Mayor Dyer and Members of the Orlando City Council:
On behalf of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), which represents independent venues, festivals, and promoters nationwide, including The Beacham, The Social, and Celine in downtown Orlando, we respectfully request that the City immediately suspend the police-protection fees assessed under the After-Midnight Alcohol Sales permit program and convene all downtown stakeholders to develop a public safety funding model that applies to the entire Downtown Entertainment Area.
The Fees Assessed
From June 2023 through August 2025, the City invoiced 39 downtown establishments a combined $4,304,461.60 for off-duty Orlando Police Department officers.¹ Twenty-four of those establishments were each billed more than $100,000 over that period. The Beacham was billed $330,796.63 and Celine $328,952.25. In calendar year 2024, the only full year reflected in the records, the City invoiced $2,138,434.65 to 33 establishments, a median of approximately $53,000 per establishment. Billing has continued since the available City records end. The fees are assessed regardless of attendance or revenue, and since February 1, 2026, they have been payable monthly in advance.²
No Direct Precedent
NIVA has been unable to identify any other municipality in the United States that requires venues to fund police officers as a condition of serving alcohol after midnight at amounts approaching these. Kissimmee's late-night permit carries a fee of $250 per year.³ Winter Garden's Ordinance 24-40 uses a similar permit structure but leaves any police or security requirement to the discretion of its police chief, and NIVA has found no indication that its permit holders bear costs approaching Orlando's.⁴ Memphis funds Beale Street security through a $5 security fee on select weekend nights.⁵ New Orleans funds French Quarter patrols through a quarter-cent sales tax paid by everyone who spends money in the district.⁶ In each case, the cost of policing a downtown district is spread across the public, patrons, or visitors. Orlando is the only jurisdiction we have found that assigns costs of this magnitude to a defined group of small businesses.
The Exemptions
Section 33.03(A) of the City Code exempts civic auditoriums and sports arenas, public lodging establishments, and motion picture theaters from the permit requirement.⁷ In practice, the exemption covers some of the City's own facilities, including: Camping World Stadium, the Kia Center, and Tinker Field.⁸ Camping World Stadium and Tinker Field hosted EDC Orlando in November 2025 and Rolling Loud in May 2026, and will host the Vans Warped Tour on November 14 and 15.⁹ Each of these events serves alcohol to crowds many times the capacity of any establishment subject to the fee, and we have not been able to find evidence that any contributes to the cost of the downtown police detail as part of this program. Additionally, it appears that downtown hotel bars may serve until 2 a.m. without a permit or fee.
The City has also approved the $500 million Westcourt development adjacent to the Kia Center, whose 3,500-seat concert venue the Mayor announced Live Nation will reportedly operate.¹⁰ In April 2026, a federal jury found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster violated federal antitrust law and operate as a monopoly, in the case brought by state attorneys general.¹¹ It is an adjudicated illegal monopoly. The City has not stated publicly whether that venue will be subject to this program.
Small Businesses Are Paying for City Responsibilities
The City's own record describes the program as a funding mechanism. At a May 19, 2025 Council workshop, staff reported that policing the eight-block downtown core costs about $6 million a year, that permit holders cover about $1.6 million of that through this program, and that the downtown Community Redevelopment Agency has subsidized the balance, an arrangement the Mayor said state law does not allow as a permanent expense. The Mayor described the spending as unsustainable.¹² Police protection of public streets is a basic municipal service, funded by the general public because the general public benefits from it. The City's budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026 totals $1.88 billion and includes nearly $270 million for the Orlando Police Department and 44 new first responders.¹³ A shortfall in a basic city service should not be met by a levy on small businesses.
The officers funded under the program work a downtown detail rather than being posted at the establishments that pay for them.¹⁴ Independent venues in the downtown core already claim to pay for their own private security. The program also requires them to fund public safety for the entire district.
The Consequences
The program functions as an unfunded mandate on the smallest businesses downtown, and its effects are now a matter of record. Ten of the 39 establishments billed under the program have closed since it took effect: Ember, Shots, Chillers, Irish Shannon's, Cahoots, High Tide, 1UP Orlando, HighT, Cocktails & Screams, and The Attic.¹⁵ Together they were billed $1,025,286.57 before closing, roughly one dollar in every four the program has invoiced.1
The owners have been specific about the cause. When 1UP Orlando and HighT closed in the spring of 2025, their owners cited “the overwhelming financial strain of operating in downtown Orlando with the restrictions placed on nightlife including the fees from after-midnight alcohol sales permit (AMS).”¹⁶ Cocktails & Screams, closing in March 2026 after seven years, stated that “the increasing fees and regulatory costs imposed by the city of Orlando have become impossible for small, independent venues like ours to survive.”¹⁷ The Attic, closing in May 2026 after 16 years, cited the after-midnight fees and a “lack of meaningful support or solutions from local leadership and city officials.”¹⁸
NIVA's 2025 State of Live report, which produced findings for all 50 states, found that only 35 percent of Florida's independent venues, festivals, and promoters were profitable in 2024. The same stages generated $7.8 billion in economic output for Florida, supported 52,018 jobs, and produced $421.7 million in tax revenue.¹⁹ A program that added more than $160,000 to the operating costs of The Beacham and of Celine in 2024 alone, in a sector where roughly two-thirds of operators are already unprofitable, will likely continue to endanger independent venues. The result could be a loss of the stages where Orlando's own artists develop.
Requests
NIVA respectfully requests that the Council:
Suspend the police-protection fee requirement under Sec. 33.03, effective immediately, pending a comprehensive review.
Convene, within 30 days, a downtown public safety working group that includes all stakeholders who draw late-night crowds, including independent venues and promoters.
Adopt a funding model consistent with practice elsewhere. Options include funding downtown policing from the general fund, as the City of Orlando does for every other neighborhood.
Publish a full accounting of program expenditures, including officer-hours and outcomes, and a list of exempt properties with the basis for each exemption.
NIVA stands ready to assist. Our members in Orlando have operated under this program for more than three years and can offer practical guidance. We will make our national and Florida data available to the City and to the working group, and we would welcome a meeting with you or your staff at your earliest convenience.
Litigation concerning this ordinance is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. This request does not depend on its outcome. The Council has the authority to suspend the program now, and NIVA asks that it do so.
Sincerely,
Stephen E. Parker
Executive Director
National Independent Venue Association
Attachment: Summary of City invoice data by establishment, June 2023 through August 2025
NOTES
¹City of Orlando, customer invoice records for the Orlando Police Department Downtown Detail, June 2, 2023 through August 8, 2025 (3,286 invoices to 39 establishments). Per-establishment totals appear in the attachment.
³City of Kissimmee, After-Midnight Alcohol Sales Permit (Ordinance No. 25-09, effective Oct. 1, 2025); Spectrum News 13, “After-midnight alcohol sales permit takes effect in Kissimmee,” Oct. 1, 2025.
⁴City of Winter Garden, Ordinance No. 24-40, secs. 6-9(d) and 6-9(e) (effective Jan. 1, 2025); News 6 WKMG, “New Winter Garden ordinance limits alcohol sales after midnight. Here's what to know,” Jan. 2, 2025.
⁵Beale Street, “Frequently Asked Questions” (security fee of $5 beginning at 9 p.m. on select Friday, Saturday, and holiday nights).
⁶French Quarter Economic Development District sales tax of 0.245 percent, renewed by voters on Nov. 15, 2025 through June 30, 2031. WVUE Fox 8, “French Quarter businesses, proponents urge renewal of district's additional sales tax,” Nov. 10, 2025; WWL, “November 15, 2025 general election results”.
⁷Orlando City Code sec. 33.03(A), created by Ordinance No. 2023-17 (adopted Mar. 20, 2023; effective May 1, 2023); current text at Municode.
⁸City of Orlando, Orlando Venues (Camping World Stadium, Kia Center, Tinker Field).
⁹Downtown Orlando, “EDC Orlando 2025,” Nov. 7–9, 2025, Tinker Field at Camping World Stadium; Pollstar, “Rolling Loud Heads to Orlando for Sole 2026 U.S. Stop,” Jan. 7, 2026 (May 8–10, 2026, Camping World Stadium); Camping World Stadium, “Vans Warped Tour Orlando,” Nov. 14–15, 2026.
¹⁰Construction Dive, Apr. 25, 2024 (City final approval of the approximately $500 million Westcourt development adjacent to the Kia Center, including a 3,500-seat venue); WFTV, “Live Nation will open new concert venue in Orlando,” Oct. 15, 2024 (Mayor Dyer's State of Downtown address at the Kia Center).
¹¹Jury verdict of Apr. 15, 2026, in United States and Plaintiff States v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., et al., No. 1:24-cv-03973 (S.D.N.Y.). Virginia Lawyers Weekly, “Jury finds in favor of Virginia, state coalition in Live Nation trial,” Apr. 17, 2026. Defendants' post-trial motions remained pending as of the most recent public reporting; see Music Business Worldwide, July 7, 2026.
¹²Orlando Sentinel, “Orlando weighs downtown police costs, cutting off alcohol sales at midnight,” May 19, 2025; Central Florida Public Media, “Orlando continues discussions on further safety regulations in downtown,” May 19, 2025; Spectrum News 13, report on the May 19, 2025 “DTO After Midnight” workshop.
¹³Spectrum News 13, “Orlando to hold first public hearing on $1 billion budget,” Sept. 14, 2026.
¹⁴City invoice memorandum lines (“OPD Downtown Detail”), note 1 above; WFTV, “Downtown Orlando bars seek injunction against police protection fees: Here's how we got here,” Mar. 30, 2025.
¹⁵Orlando Weekly, Feb. 20, 2026, note 2 above (Ember, Shots, Chillers, Irish Shannon's, Cahoots, High Tide, 1UP Orlando, HighT); notes 18 and 19 below (Cocktails & Screams, The Attic). Establishment names are matched to the customer accounts in the City's invoice records.
¹⁶News 6 WKMG, “Downtown bars HighT Orlando, 1UP Orlando announce permanent closures,” Apr. 2, 2025.
¹⁷Orlando Weekly, “Cocktails & Screams to close after 6 years downtown,” Mar. 11, 2026.
¹⁸FOX 35 Orlando, “The Attic Nightclub closes in downtown Orlando after 16 years,” June 3, 2026.
¹⁹National Independent Venue Association, 2025 State of Live: Florida; NIVA, “National Independent Venue Association Releases 50+ State Studies That Show The Outsized Economic Power of Independent Live Entertainment,” Oct. 8, 2025.
