Editorial: Mumford by the numbers

The mayor of St Augustine, Joseph L. Boles, Jr., the interim commissioner, Donald Crichlow, and the freshman commissioner, Roxanne Horvath, voted to obligate $417,838 of the reserve of funds of the City of St Augustine, so that a private concert promoter, AC Entertainment, can entertain 1,515 residents who purchased tickets for the Gentlemen of the Road stopover next month.

The money was collected from 13,000 taxpayers. 1,515 residents will attend the concert. The other, more than 11,000, city residents will guarantee the known net operating loss so that 1,515 residents can attend the Mumford and Sons concert. Downtown taxpayers, both residents and businesses, will be virtual prisoners in their own homes, or will be out-of-town that week to avoid the crush of 25,000 ticketholders from all over the country.

The Tourist Development Council is poised to throw $129,485 of St Johns County bed taxes at the private concert, as well; but, the City, who admits they lack the expertise to pull off an event of this scale on their own, is offering to pay back $50,000 to the county for “consulting services” — if the Board of Commissioners agree.

Only 3,091 St Johns County residents have purchased concert tickets and that includes the 1,515 residents of the City of St Augustine.

The chart in this article is compiled from data supplied to Historic City News by the City of St Augustine, who represents that the information was provided by AC Entertainment.