The TDC Ad Falls Short...
The half page ad placed twice in the NWFDN last week claims to present the facts
and portray the rest of the story on the TDC/conference center issue. The ad falls short
on both points.
First, the ad does not state who paid almost $2,000 to run it. FACT: it was paid
for by the Tourist Development Council with tax money. Legal or not, the public should be
told who is behind any political statement, especially if it was paid for with public
funds.
The ad speaks of the TDC spending money, promoting our tourism industry, holding
eight public hearings, welcoming public input, and keeping the public informed. FACT:
state law and Ord. 89-23 establish the TDC as an advisory council. Their duties are to
make recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners, to review all expenditures from
the tourist development tax revenue, and to report all expenditures not allowed by law.
Our elected officials appear to have passed on their responsibility and accountability to
an appointed body of mostly tourism businesspersons. The public deserves to know who is
running this show.
The ad claims tourists pay a third of all the sales tax and local gas taxes that
build and maintain our roads. FACT: First, sales taxes do not build our roads but are part
of general revenue used for many purposes. Second, this county has at least 110,000
residents over 16 years of age spending and driving throughout the whole county, every
day. We have an average of only 8,000 visitors a day over the year, most living near the
beaches. To be factual and complete, the TDC should tell how they came up with their
numbers.
The ad states the conference center is still in the planning stages and that the
TDC will keep the public informed as the project proceeds. FACT: Our commissioners also
made this statement at the final county budget meeting in September, while a meeting to
approve the expenditure of $100,000 for an engineering study was scheduled for the very
next morning. Also, at least one commissioner has been heard to say the center is a
"done deal". Are these examples of keeping the public informed?
The ad admits that it is not clear how the increased demands on infrastructure
will be met; and that higher taxes, impact fees or Federal grants are being considered.
The story on the conference center is not full without including the solution to its
impact on infrastructure.
The ad blames county and city government for not planning for the increase in
demands on the infrastructure from tourism. The solution proposed is that "we cannot
go back" and "we must grow". The ad does not consider the obvious solution
of controlling growth right now until the infrastructure problems are solved, starting
with avoiding the impact of building a conference center.
Fred Bergmann
fjberg@arc.net
