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SHELLY

SoWal Insider
Jun 13, 2005
5,770
802
Bed tax spike on table in Walton

SANTA ROSA BEACH - The Walton County Tourist Development has agreed to have more talks about a proposal to raise the bed tax from 4 cents to 5 cents, and will have another meeting to discuss how best to use the more than $2 million in additional revenue.

Walton County commissioners still must approve the bed-tax increase.

Commissioner Sonny Mares, the TDC's executive director, said there was discussion at Wednesday's meeting about using the funds to help pay for a complex that would include sports fields, an amphitheater and performing-arts venue. That has been on the county's wish list for years, Mares said.

But the TDC more likely would join forces with Bay County officials to attract a low-cost airline to the Panama City-Bay County International Airport, which is slated to open next May.

Every cent of the bed tax generates more than $2 million. Mares said he does not expect that number to decline despite the sluggish economy.

Airport officials are pursuing numerous low-cost airlines, and the TDC wants to "be in a position to assist with marketing to draw new business to the area," Mares said.

Every airline has its own strategy to build business, so TDC members must sit down with the airline's marketing team to discuss the best ways to do that, he added.

"Currently, our TDC reaches a 12-hour driving radius, but there's other markets further out that a larger marketing campaign could reach," he added. "Any (airline) carrier would want to bring in new business and open up this area to their business."

Mike Chouri, general manager for Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa, said any additional bed-tax revenue should be used to help market Northwest Florida. Walton, Okaloosa and Bay counties must reach some kind of agreement because if Walton County uses the added revenue for that purpose, "the other counties have to do the same thing."

The bed tax in Okaloosa County recently went up to 5 cents. Bay County's is now 3 cents but may increase to 5 cents.

Chouri said he is neither for nor against the tax increase.

"It just needs to be made very clear exactly where the money is going to go," he said.

Raising or diverting taxes "is not the answer to everything," Chouri added. "But if we have to do it, we have to do it right."

Lisa Bulriss, sales director at the Marriott Courtyard Sandestin at Grand Boulevard, said she believes a bed-tax increase is a good idea if it would attract more tourists.

"I think if (the bed-tax increase) was to bring in a new air carrier, that would benefit us," she said. "Any way that we can help get more people in ..."

The Walton County bed tax last was raised in 2004 from 3 cents to 4 cents. The TDC used part of the new revenue to help fund beach nourishment.

Mares said that increase initially met some opposition because residents mistakenly thought it would affect their properties.

"It is only a tax for people who come here for short-term stays in hotels or town homes or condominiums who rent them short-term," he said. "And the investment is reinvested in building more business, which is what we need to do now; more business to help restaurants, to help hotels, to help professionally managed properties and individuals who have invested in rental homes and rent them out to tourists."

Bed tax spike on table in Walton | county, tdc, business - News - Northwest Florida Daily News
 

wrobert

Beach Fanatic
Nov 21, 2007
4,134
575
61
DeFuniak Springs
www.defuniaksprings.com
The TDC leaders need to go and take a course in economics. A 25% tax increase? Come on, this has got to be a joke. As the article says that penny will be taking 2 million dollars out of the private sector and putting into the public sector. 2 million dollars that could be spent in our eateries and bars, at our lodging establishments, in our stores. Economic experts in this area repeatedly use a multiplier of 7 when calculating impact of economic activity. Is this the time to shrink the local economy by 14 million dollars?

I understand that they want to use these dollars to entice Northwest Airlines to come into the area. Maybe it is just me, but I would think that if Northwest Airlines could make any money around here, we would not have to suffer a 14 million dollar economic loss to get them to show up.

Glad I am not trying to rent my vacation home in sowal.
 

SHELLY

SoWal Insider
Jun 13, 2005
5,770
802
The TDC leaders need to go and take a course in economics. A 25% tax increase? Come on, this has got to be a joke. As the article says that penny will be taking 2 million dollars out of the private sector and putting into the public sector. 2 million dollars that could be spent in our eateries and bars, at our lodging establishments, in our stores. Economic experts in this area repeatedly use a multiplier of 7 when calculating impact of economic activity. Is this the time to shrink the local economy by 14 million dollars?

I understand that they want to use these dollars to entice Northwest Airlines to come into the area. Maybe it is just me, but I would think that if Northwest Airlines could make any money around here, we would not have to suffer a 14 million dollar economic loss to get them to show up.

Glad I am not trying to rent my vacation home in sowal.

Beware when government talks about tax increases in terms of pennies rather than percentages. They're relying heavily on a poor education system so they can work their magic with smoke and mirrors.

.
 

Susan Horn

Beach Fanatic
Wow, I thought when they raised it to 4 percent, they told us that was the highest it would ever go, most the state allowed.

As for the rest, I cannot even get started on what I think of the TDC or I might say something I'll later regret.
 

TooFarTampa

SoWal Insider
What a moronic idea. It is not "pennies" when you pay $2K for a week's rent. Owners are alredy lowering rates and giving heavy discounts just to keep their places booked. Guess what? A tax increase would just mean they would have to lower them more. What a nice thank-you to the people who fill the county's coffers with bed taxes and property taxes!

I can't believe that a) a county official is actually talking about what is on a "wish list," and b) they don't understand that in this climate, a tax increase would hurt not help. It will NOT go unnoticed. People are sending me offers to rent my place for 40 or 50 percent off of the rates we just lowered -- rates that already have gone down by about 15-20 percent since 2004. Another example that the branding-obsessed folks at the TDC don't seem to get it.
 

ShallowsNole

Beach Fanatic
Jun 22, 2005
4,292
849
Pt Washington
The original proposal in late 2003 was to raise it to 5%. However, by the time it went before the BCC in early 2004, it had been decided that 4% would be more palatable at the time.

I'm still reeling that I read it first on SoWal. :blink:
 

wrobert

Beach Fanatic
Nov 21, 2007
4,134
575
61
DeFuniak Springs
www.defuniaksprings.com
The original proposal in late 2003 was to raise it to 5%. However, by the time it went before the BCC in early 2004, it had been decided that 4% would be more palatable at the time.

I'm still reeling that I read it first on SoWal. :blink:


Let us put this in the proper context.

The original proposal was to raise it 66% in 2003. By the time it was actually raised it only went up 33%.

Now they wish to raise it another 25% to give to a corporation. I wished I owned an airline.
 

scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,732
3,330
Sowal
Is there a reason why they want to whomp the 'goose that laid the golden egg' upside the head w/a shovel during a recession/depression?

Did they miss the fact that last year's "staycation" will be this year's "naycation"?
 

NotDeadYet

Beach Fanatic
Jul 7, 2007
1,422
489
They, and by "they" I mean most of our local government officials, do not view it as a significant tax increase (strange, since they are overwhelmingly Republican) because they do not view it as "our" money because "we" locals are not paying it. I have, repeatedly, heard not only the local officials but the state ones as well, refer to grant money as if it were free money from a tree, or fell from the sky. Oh, well, never mind that grant money is made up of tax revenue that came from somewhere. Just not here, I suppose :roll:
It's the same mindset at work.
 
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