Tourist pact is no walk in the park

We interrupt this week of scintillating political chat for another rendition of government vs. government.
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While I loathe this topic, the recent escapades of Citrus County and the City of Inverness have piqued my interest if only for the odd history.

First, the news: The tourism funding agreement between the county and the city is dead for now. It seemed like such a simple idea. The county gives the city $150,000 a year for tourism programs, and all is well.

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Except, it’s not. Here we go.

For governments collecting and spending millions of dollars, both the city and county have a history of getting hung up on this issue, or something similar.

The challenge for many years was funding Whispering Pines Park. Whispering Pines is a city park; the county, however, counts it among the three “regional” county parks.

Starting in 1993, the city and county agreed to split the cost equally each year, about $370,000 each. The county reduced its share to $300,000 in 2008-11, then stopped it altogether for two years when the county found it scrambling for money during the Duke Energy tax dispute.

When the county was ready to resume funding, it had a new caveat: Show us receipts.

Well, you’d think the county just asked the city for its first born. The city refused to do that, and thus started a 9-year dispute between the city and county over funding of Whispering Pines Park that ended when the county agreed to fund WPP at the same amount as Bicentennial Park in Crystal River — little over $300,000 each year.

OK, now we have that government goop out of the way.

The county collects a tourist tax on overnight visitor stays. The Tourist Development Council awards those funds, though most of it is spent on marketing and advertising.

The awards are generally project-specific. This is a cause-and-effect deal. In order to get funding, an entity has to show results. Results to the county equal overnight stays. It’s difficult getting any TDC money if you can’t prove it’ll put heads in beds, thus bringing in more tourist tax money.

Back in February, Inverness Mayor Bob Plaisted asked the TDC for a once-a-year blanket amount of $150,000 to spend as it wants for tourism. The idea is the cities and the Chamber of Commerce could benefit from an interlocal agreement that allows an annual TDC expenditure instead of having to come in for every event.

Again, perfectly logical. Who would oppose such a thing?

Details. That’s who.

Interesting players involved in this one. The county’s tourism director is Auvis Cole; the assistant city manager is Frank Calascione who, until he was hired by the city in March, was the county’s economic development/tourism director.

Cole and Calascione went about hammering out the agreement. Not surprisingly, there were issues right from the start.

Simple: The county wants accountability. The city said no. The county suggested a budget. The city said no.

The county agreed (not sure why) to remove the accountability measure. Then it asked simply for receipts to make sure the tourist tax money is being spent according to state law. And to provide twice-a-year updates to the TDC.

The city’s response: No.

Basically, the city just wants the money. I mean, it’s very simple. The city has no specific plan for the money, nothing in particular that it’ll use it for to spur tourism activity. It’s a local government, its visitors pay the tourist tax, and the city believes it should have an annual allocation. 

I really don’t have a horse in this race. It’s just another dumb government vs. government squabble.

Both sides have a point, though the county’s point seems more seeped in logic than the city’s.

The county wants a paper trail. Unlike property taxes, tourist taxes have a specific purpose that’s detailed in state law. Having written about tourist tax off and on for over 30 years, I’ll say the county is extremely careful about how it spends this money. 

The city has a more laissez-faire approach. Trust us. We know what we’re doing. C’mon, everything we do draws visitors by the truckload. This should be a no-brainer. Don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be.

Two governments. A seemingly simple task. Figure it out, folks.

That’s what we pay you to do.

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