Beaches fired up over tourist tax

By Amy Wimmer
Copyright 2001 Times Publishing Company
Article date: August 8, 2001
 

ST. PETE BEACH- The need to spruce up Gulf Boulevard has become as much of a no-brainer as serving grouper in the restaurants and keeping sand on the beach.

But as county, city, tourism and utilities officials recover from the initial euphoria of seeing several facets of the community work together, the question arises:

Who's going to pay for these improvements, now estimated at $30-million?

"Everyone would like to step away from the grenade," said Rick Dodge, the county's director of economic development, who is overseeing the Gulf Boulevard project.

The beach cities and towns have tentatively agreed to pay half the cost; covering the other half is the problem. And the option getting the most attention - the one that beach folks are already lining up to oppose, and the one they suspect county officials will choose - would increase the bed tax on tourists.

Currently, the tourist tax is 4 cents on every dollar spent on lodging in Pinellas. A fifth cent would generate $4.6-million a year, enough to pay off the Gulf Boulevard project and then fund other tourism projects elsewhere in the county.

Such talk makes the leaders on the beach livid.

"We've agreed to pay half," said Leon Atkinson, mayor of Treasure Island. "The county was going to pay the other half. If they add this fifth cent, that would mean we're paying their half, too, through our businesses."

Already, the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce, the Gulf Beaches of Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce and the Pinellas County Hotel/Motel Association have told the county to look for other funding sources.

The hotel industry, already in a slump along with much of the rest of the economy, fears an extra penny of tax would hurt tourism. Dodge counters that claim, saying numbers from Pinellas and Hillsborough indicate practically no impact on tourism when the hotel tax increases.

The relationship between the beaches and the county is already strained, though beach officials say it has improved in recent months. Elected officials on the beaches say the county depends on them to lure tourists and impress companies considering a move to Pinellas, but gives back little to the beaches.

Earlier this year the Barrier Islands Governmental Council, comprised of elected officials from every coastal city except Clearwater, fleetingly talked of forming its own Gulf Beaches County and taking its highly valued waterfront property with it.

Dodge and his staff have not formally endorsed the fifth-cent tourist tax, and even if the county did choose that funding route, it would require legislative approval because the Florida Legislature mandates that the fourth and fifth cents of the tax be spent on professional sports facilities.

While the fifth cent is just "one of many options" right now, Dodge says, some involved in the plan are taking the option seriously. Nancy Loehr, who is both community relations manager for Florida Power and chairman of the Gulf Beaches of Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, has informed the chamber board that she will leave herself out of discussion about funding.

"It has been brought to my attention that the county administration intends to propose adding an additional fifth cent to the tourist development tax to pay for the cost of the Gulf Boulevard beautification project," Loehr wrote in a letter to the board.

"I would not in any way want to give the appearance or perception that my company in any way has a position on this proposal," she wrote.

Dodge said he plans to visit several groups throughout September to solicit funding ideas, but he believes other options will be equally unpopular. Restaurants, for example, would dispute a food and beverage tax, and county residents would resent an ad valorem tax increase that pays for improvements on the wealthy beaches.

County commissioners already have told Dodge to steer  clear of Penny for Pinellas monies when looking for funding.

"I'll tell you the advantages of the the fifth cent: There is no ad valorem impact, it's closest to the individuals who get the direct benefit of the impact, and it will help sustain that same group returning," Dodge said.

But the beaches, which already have agreed to pay for half the cost of modernizing Gulf Boulevard with buried power lines, tropical landscaping and Disney-esque theme lighting, see the situation differently.

Sixty percent of the county's hotel tax revenue comes from beach hotels. If the county decides to fund the other half of the project with a hotel tax increase, more than three-quarters of the project's funding would come from the beaches, officials there reason.

"What kind of partnership is that? We'd be paying for the whole project," said Redington Shores Mayor J.J. Beyrouti.

Making the proposal even more controversial is debate over whether a fifth cent can legally be spent on a beautification project. Dodge said that even if the fifth cent of bed tax gets local support, the county would have to lobby the Florida Legislature for permission to use the money on Gulf Boulevard.

Considering all the resistance Dodge has received on a plan his staff hasn't even decided yet to recommend to the County Commission, he's keeping an open mind on how to pay for revamping Gulf Boulevard.

"Bake sales and car washes are possibilities," Dodge said, "but with the water shortage, we'll have to knock out the latter."
 

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