At the center of the dispute: the tourism money we need to keep our city running.

When visitors come to cities like Jacksonville, most rely on travel websites like Hotels.com and Hotwire to check-in to area hotels. The city benefits from the collected convention and bed taxes - putting that money towards the debts of the Prime Osborn Convention Center, Jacksonville Municipal Stadium and more campaigns for bringing tourists to the First Coast.

But the complaint filed by Jacksonville and nearly 40 other Florida cities claims that they've been unable to collect that money from the online travel companies for the past five years.

Attorney Michael Freed says the amount is so large, he can't even pin down the exact number, but says it's in the millions.

Jacksonville is taking the lead in this case, and it's not the first time the city has faced off on this same issue.

Freed says the travel websites have also brought their case to state and federal leaders to avoid paying the tax. They now have 20 days to respond to the lawsuit.