For-profit companies want taste of bed tax

Since the St Johns County Commission voted the optional bed tax into being in 1986, it has been the subject of both praise and criticism; however, at yesterday’s meeting of the Tourist Development Council, St Johns Cultural Council Executive Andy Witt threw a curveball that drew catcalls from some members of the audience.

Witt suggests that Category II funds, the money that goes towards the production and promotion of local events designed to put “heads in beds”, money that has traditionally been paid to local non-profit, tax exempt organizations, be opened to bids from for-profit businesses as well.

For example, local 501(c)3, non-profit organization Epic Community Services, wants to produce the popular “Taste of St Augustine”, as they have done for several years. They apply to the TDC for $10,000 in promotional assistance. This year, they were approved for a grant of $9,500.

Under Witt’s proposal, if an out-of-town restaurant promoter figures out a way to make money on the deal, and they present a plan to produce a more glossy, spit-and-polish event, the St Johns Cultural Council should offer them support, the proposal should be reviewed by the Arts, Cultural and Heritage Funding Panel, and the for-profit restaurant should be allowed to compete against the non-profit community organizations for that pool of bed tax money.

Without naming names, Witt said attended a recent conference where he spoke with a colleague that told him they were doling out bed tax money to for-profits — and seeing higher caliber events than the local non-profits were capable of producing.

St Augustine Mayor Joe Boles, a member of the Tourist Development Council and local attorney who is active in several not for profit organizations, questioned Witt on whether or not the proposition was even legal. Boles went on to explain that, even if it is legal, it is not something he was inclined to support without a lot more information — pointing out that this funding could make the difference for many members of the local community as to whether or not they could continue producing their events at all.

Witt told Historic City News that the idea is supported by their newly hired consultants, the Robin Shepherd Group in Jacksonville, who Witt says has a one-year contract paid at the rate of $150/per hour. A Shepherd staff member aided Witt in an abstract branding presentation during time when Witt was supposed be presenting his Marketing Plan for the Fiscal Year that begins October 1. Although the Cultural Council is a non-profit, Shepherd Group, is a for-profit advertising, marketing and digital agency.