Commissioners also told DeVos they probably could spare a maximum $79 million in tourist tax revenue over the next four years as a contribution to a proposed $250-million basketball court. That promptly killed the new arena idea, as GlobeSt.com reported June 10.

DeVos, the billionaire co-founder of Ada, MI-based Amway Corp., wanted the county to kick in $121.5 million. But with tourist tax collections from tourists and travelers declining for March, April and May, the county's till is thinning out for commercial real estate projects.

For the past 10 years, the county has been averaging $100 million a year from the 5% tax on its 125,000 hotel/motel rooms. The $750 million phase of the Convention Center under construction is being funded by revenue bonds guaranteed by the annual tax collections.