Okaloosa County BOCC — April 27, 2013 — Letter from Commissioner Boyles on TDD Tax Provisions — reading text

Board of County Commissioners State of Florida February 26, 2013 Okaloosa Legislative Delegation C/O Hon. Matt Gaetz, Representative Okaloosa Legislative Delegation Chairman Office 111 West Madison Street, Room 876 Claude Pepper Building Tallahassee, FL 32399-1400 Representative Gaetz, | hope this letter finds you doing well as you prepare for a busy legislative session. | write to request that you and the other members of our legislative delegation give consideration to a thorough review of the existing Tourist Development Tax provisions. As you are well aware, our County continues to struggle to deal with the aftermath of the theft of tourist development dollars. As was identified in the recently released Auditor General's findings, there is a lack of clarity as to what the permissible uses of tourist development dollars are. While | recognize that the statutory language is complicated with regard to the various "pennies" involved, | am nevertheless hopeful that the legislature will be able to provide some greater clarification with regard to those monies. | have been hearing from many of our constituents that they believe tourist development dollars should be able to be spent in ways that help to offset the burden created by the seasonal influxes associated with a tourism driven economy. A specific example would be the use of tourist development dollars for the funding of beach safety activities, including lifeguards. While a specific request for legislative consideration has not been voted on by our Commission as of yet, | hope to present the issue for discussion at our next meeting. Provided a resolution develops out of that discussion, | will ensure that it is timely forwarded to our full legislative delegation. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you wish to discuss this matter in greater detail. Sincer Nathan D. Boyles Commissioner, District 3 cc: Senator Don Gaetz Senator Greg Evers Representative Doug Broxson @ BCC-North 302N. Wilson St., Suite 302 + Crestview, FL 32536 + (850) 689-5030 Fax (850) 689-5025 ™ BCC-South 1804 Lewis Turner Blvd., Suite 100 + Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547 + (850) 651-7105 Fax (850) 651-7142