Letter: City right not to support another bed tax

Letter: City right not to support another bed tax



Jack Martin
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 05/18/08


Editor: The St. Augustine City Commission made the right decision by declining to support a resolution that calls for using a one-percent bed tax increase to restore Government House. Let us hope the County Commission, which has the ultimate authority, follows suit and abandons this ill-considered notion.

There's nothing wrong with using public dollars for historic restoration. Government House and its heritage benefit us all. Yet what was proposed exemplified the "say one thing, do another" behavior that gives politicians a bad name and undermines respect for government:

The bed tax was passed by the Legislature expressly to raise funds for promoting tourism, in St. Augustine and throughout the state. With data showing tourism waning here, we had better continue using existing and proposed bed tax dollars as intended. We are not a top-of-mind tourist destination, notwithstanding what county officials imply.

Siphoning any bed tax increase toward building restoration sets a dangerous precedent. Using such logic, one could justify doing virtually anything in the name of "promoting tourism." Politicians in search of funding will snatch every dollar they can grab -- as this week's city commission meeting demonstrated. On the heels of the proposal to spend $14 million on Government House came a plea to spend $22 million on 34 historic properties.

The ensuing debate that effectively scuttled both ideas reaffirmed the wisdom of spending bed tax dollars as county voters authorized.

Using public funds for historical preservation is certainly a laudable idea. Indeed, what our association's members spend to preserve 26 historic bed and breakfast inns runs into the millions -- of their own dollars.

Let's consider historic preservation on its own merits, then fund what's needed with a tax measure dedicated to that purpose.

Jack Martin, President, St. Augustine Historic Inns Association, St. Augustine


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