Tourism council asks county to reconsider Chappie James memorial funding after economic-impact study

The Escambia County Tourist Development Council voted on March 13 to send a signed letter to the Board of County Commissioners asking the commission to reconsider its recent vote to fund the General Chappie James memorial plaza with Tourist Development Tax (TDT) dollars.

The action followed a staff summary of a short Haas Center economic-impact assessment that found the study’s modeled effects were short-term construction impacts and did not show the project, as proposed, would directly and primarily support tourism once built.

The council’s packet and meeting discussion show the county commission at its Feb. 20 meeting voted to fund the plaza’s construction using roughly $750,000 in TDT (bed tax) revenues plus other local funds. TDC members who reviewed the Haas Center summary said the study characterized the economic output as construction-related and did not demonstrate sustained tourism promotion or heads-and-beds generation tied to the statue’s construction.

Tom Jardine, a member of the public who spoke during the item, urged the council to avoid using TDT for the plaza and framed the bed tax as a fund belonging to area residents. "Every penny of the bed tax belongs to citizens," Jardine said during public comment. He acknowledged support for the memorial’s purpose but argued general-fund or private money should be used instead.

Council Chairman David Baer (recorded in the transcript as the presenting TDC chair) told members he had personally donated to the project but argued that the council’s statutory duties required it to report potential unauthorized use of TDT. “I don’t believe it’s an authorized use of the tourist development tax,” Baer said in the meeting.

Under the council’s policies and state law (the packet cites Section 125.0104, Florida Statutes), the TDC may report potentially unauthorized TDT expenditures to the county commission and to the Florida Department of Revenue. At the meeting the council debated whether to send a formal letter to both the county commission and the Department of Revenue immediately or to first send a signed letter to the county commission and ask the commission to reconsider before involving state authorities.

A motion that would have authorized the chair to sign and send the letter to the Department of Revenue and the county commission was made and seconded, but members then adopted a substitute motion. The substitute instructed the chair to sign and send the letter to the Board of County Commissioners only and asked the county to put reconsideration of the funding on the commissioners’ agenda; the substitute explicitly omitted immediate transmittal to the Department of Revenue. The substitute motion passed on roll call with all members voting yes.

Staff and the council’s finance director reviewed TDC policy language during the discussion and confirmed that if the council reports a potentially unauthorized TDT expenditure, the board would be expected to document its findings regarding allowability and how the expense meets statutory criteria for promoting tourism. County staff also noted that no construction expenditure had yet been made and that the county’s contingencies included a requirement for public ownership by the city of Pensacola and the completion of the Haas Center assessment.

Ending: The council’s signed letter will go to the Board of County Commissioners asking for reconsideration of the plaza construction funding and for the board to evaluate the project’s consistency with statutory TDT uses; the TDC will review any county response and may pursue further steps if the commission does not address the council’s concerns.