County agrees to put TDC tax increase on November ballot

Local voters will decide in November whether to double the local tourist development tax.

County Commissioners on Tuesday voted three to two to let the voters decide whether to double the local tourist development tax from 2 percent to 4 percent.

The Franklin County Tourist Development tax was approved by voters in 2005 to help promote tourism in Franklin County.

A Tourist development Council oversees and distributes money raised through the local bed tax which is collected from every hotel, motel and rental house in the county.

Since 2005 the tax has raised nearly 7 million dollars, much of which has been spent on local festivals and events and for funding local groups like the Dixie Theatre and the Camp Gordon Johnston Museum.

The money is also used to promote the county - and one of the reasons the TDC is seeking an increase in the tax is because they saw a substantial increase in tourism when they had additional BP money to spend on promotion after the BP oil spill.

If the tax is increased to 4 percent, the TDC said it would earmark half of the increase to advertise Franklin County around the country and to promote local seafood.

The issue will be put on the November ballot to save the expense of holding a special election.

The move was opposed by Commissioners Noah Lockley and Smokey Parrish, both of whom represent the districts in and around the City of Apalachicola.

They argued that the Tourist Development Council needs more representation from hotel and bed and breakfast owners from the Apalachicola area.

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