Who benefits from the bed tax

Historic City News readers in St Augustine and St Johns County are asking, “Who benefits from the bed tax?”

The answer is — it depends on who you ask.

Like many “taxes” there are readers who will tell you that nobody benefits.

When you look at the cost of administration of the Tourist Development Council, which exists solely to administer the bed tax, there are those that will tell you that only folks like Glenn Hastings are beneficiaries. Add Hastings $95,082 paycheck, plus full county benefits, and his “office manager” who earns another $41,440, you might ask if we are better off with it — or without it.

There are those “in the know” readers who will tell you that the Visitors and Convention Bureau could not operate without bed tax funding; obtained from the Tourist Development Council. Of course, Hastings formerly wore the executive director’s hat at both; ever since the breakup, we are told the VCB has enough independent sources of revenue that they could continue to be an effective marketing organization for the area — but then again, they might have to join forces with the Chamber of Commerce. I guess you can’t mix the “haves” and the “have-nots”.

Then there are those on the bottom of totem pole — the folks, most of whom are volunteers, retirees, or gifted residents willing to share their talents, who generously put together the content of entertainment and cultural programs. They will tell you that the end of the bed tax would be the end of their contribution.

Some of the more visible of those content producers are lining up tomorrow, as they do each year, hats in their hands, asking the Arts, Culture and Heritage Funding Panel and Tourist Development Council members for their piece of the government cheese, so to speak.

Scored HIGHEST to LOWEST, this year’s list of thirty-six organizations: