INDIANAPOLIS -- The city is counting on a big increase in convention business to help bring in the $33.5 million needed to keep the Pacers in town over the next three years.

Under the deal announced Monday, the team will stay in Conseco Fieldhouse the next three seasons while the city pays $10 million a year for running the arena and pays for a minimum of $3.5 million in fieldhouse improvements, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

The Capital Improvement Board collects eight different taxes overall, although some of them are already earmarked for other purposes.

The biggest source of revenue is the 17 percent hotel tax, of which 6 percent goes to the CIB. Last year, the CIB projected $25.1 million from the tax, but only took in $20.7 million because of the down economy, a shortfall of almost $4.5 million.

This year, the tax is coming in at a rate of $23.4 million, which is above last year, but still $300,000 below the forecast, which was reduced following the bad year in 2009.

The Convention and Visitors Association, the agency responsible for selling conventions, said room occupancy is 65 percent this year, 4 percent above last year, and that bookings are running 9 percent ahead of their goal for 2010.

The association said it's anticipating the opening of the Indiana Convention Center expansion and the J.W. Marriott Hotel, the city's largest, will increase those numbers in 2011 and 2012.

Two major conventions are also already booked.

"We've retained CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association), who we lost because they had outgrown Indianapolis and our convention center," said association spokesman Chris Gahl. "They're coming back starting in 2011 and 2012. That's going to bring $25 million in visitor spending each year. We were also successful in retaining GenCon through 2015."

The association was unable to provide projections on hotel room occupancy for the next two years, but the manager of the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, Phil Ray, estimates his bookings for 2012 are running 10 percent ahead of this year.

Combine that with the new rooms coming soon and it could bring a 20 percent or more increase in the hotel tax.

Still, that would still be only about half the new money needed to pay the Pacers, leaving the CIB to try and squeeze some more money out of those other taxes, such as the food and beverage tax.

"Those are factors that we're going to have to address later on," Mayor Greg Ballard said at Monday's announcement. "But the fact is, if we can move in the right direction and the economy rebounds even more, then we'll see what that brings in 2013."