Regional leaders press for dedicated transit funding, new film incentives and workforce supports

Mayor Demings and fellow regional leaders used the 2025 Orange County Regional Economic Summit to press for a dedicated, regional funding source for mass transit, announce local steps to revive film incentives in Orange County and describe workforce and equity efforts aimed at keeping talent in the region.

“Our goal today was really to have a regional conversation … to diversify our economy and to strengthen our region,” Mayor Demings said, opening the discussion on transportation, economic diversification and collaboration across counties.

Why it matters: Officials said tourism and other job centers concentrated along the International Drive corridor make improved transit a regional priority; they warned that delaying a dedicated funding source will make future projects harder and more expensive. County leaders also said Orange County will move forward with a local film-incentive program in the current fiscal year as part of broader efforts to retain talent produced by local universities and training programs.

Transportation and funding

Mayor Demings said the region needs “a mass transit system, a multimodal system” and estimated the full buildout would cost “in excess of, 20, probably 25 plus billion dollars.” He pointed to projects already discussed publicly — including…