BCC Votes To Pay New TDC Director $125,000 per year

[30ashopper]

Personally, I don't think I am going to be outraged about a salary for a position heading up an organization responsible for bringing in millions to this county, and taking care of our most precious resource - the beaches. I'd like to reserve judgment until I can measure performance down the road a bit.

How do we know if the TDC has actually done that? I wonder sometimes. Has any independent group ever studied the promotional expenditures of the TDC in order to ascertain the success level of their programs at generating general revenue?

I get beach maintenance, beach access, and beach nourishment. These are all good things. But the TDC spends quite a bit in other areas. I wonder how effective a job they've done.

 

[John R]

Tie that into the thought of some very influential people at the Walton Area Chamber now having some strings attached to the TDC.

...isn't unduly influenced by some of those key players at the Chamber, in regards to her new role at the TDC.

Dawn herself indicated that she would be at the TDC 80%, and WACC 20% of the time. Not sure how the separation will play out.

 

[scooterbug44]

So we are paying someone $28K more to do 80% of the job? WTF?

 

[GoodWitch58]

I thought in the latest version of this, she had resigned from the Chamber and was working full time with the TDC?

 

[Alicia Leonard]

I thought in the latest version of this, she had resigned from the Chamber and was working full time with the TDC?

That is our information also.

 

[Joyce Owen]

Dual role until July 2

From today's Daily News:


Moliterno said later that she has resigned as president and CEO of Walton County Chamber of Commerce, and will be in a 60-day transition from the chamber to the TDC.
She replaces Sonny Mares, who retired abruptly April 1. Questions have since been raised about some expenses he charged to the TDC.
Commissioners approved a one-year contract with Moliterno at their last meeting.
Moliterno said her last day with the chamber will be July 2. Until then, she will spend 80 percent of her time with the TDC and 20 percent with the chamber.
?I?m thrilled this whole process is behind us,? Moliterno said. ?I?m ready to get back in the business of promoting this wonderful destination.?

 

[Busta Hustle]

Haas Center says Walco collected $10,583,218 in bed taxes in 2009.
7 of the 12 months 09 collections were a little less than in 2008 and the other 5 months 09 collections were a little up.

 

[30A Skunkape]

My two cents:

Dawn knows the area she is promoting, so there will be no need for a transititional learning period during this very crucial time for marketing the Beaches of South Walton, given the media drumbeat of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. $125k will be money well spent on an 'inside hire', if in retrospect she manages to keep occupancy up in a difficult public relations period. In fact, she may be a steal, and not in the sense implied above.

 

[Busta Hustle]

There is no way to measure and give credit to a TDC director for rental occupancy.

My vision of the future is for smaller government with less money. What makes anyone think that a government can do better marketing to attract tourist than the owners of the property for rent. In this age of technology and websites VRBO, every realtor web page, business ads, every rental agency ad, word of mouth, repeat customers for decades how can you give even 10% of the credit for rental occupancy to an annual marketing plan of the TDc?

Cut the bed tax in half save the end customer the $$ or collect it and give half of it back to the owner that paid it in the first place.

or just keep believing the hype and giving $16 million or so a year to a government taxing authority that knows what's best for you.

 

[Geo]

I'm with Skunky. You could easily pay tens of thousands of dollars to cover the cost of a national search, then reloaction expenses, then time getting someone ramped up. I would imagine she made this a selling point during the interview process and when negotiating her salary. I know I would have.

You can spin this any way you want. If you want to you can smell something that stinks. If you want to- you can have some faith that we were lucky enough to find a solid local candidate who folks in and around the TDC already know and can vouch for who is ready to get to work.