By Shane Moody, Destin Chamber
Over the past four months, you’ve heard the chamber say this when talking about the economy: Reopen, Recover, Reimagine. While we’ve reopened, the recovery is ongoing and the reimagine is being discussed. Our Economic Recovery Task Force has done a great job providing the chamber with thoughts and ideas on what’s to come.
One of the major events just ahead of us is an election that has not received much attention due to the coronavirus pandemic. When you go to the polls, we ask that you vote for pro-business, pro-quality growth, and pro-citizen candidates. We encourage you to do your research and learn who is pro-business. Coming out of a downed economy, we need elected officials who support the business community.
Also, ahead of us in November are four constitutional amendments, and for those who live in Destin City Limits, a charter change concerning building heights. One of the constitutional amendments is a mandatory $15 per hour minimum wage. The Destin Chamber is opposed to this for several reasons:
1) This is an issue that can be and should be handled legislatively, if the Florida Legislature wanted to pursue this. The Constitution is no place for this mandate.
2) Coming out of a terrible economic downturn, this is one of the worst things that could happen to the business community. Small and large businesses alike do not need another expensive mandate.
3) If passed, businesses will either have to decrease expenses or raise prices to be able to afford the rate increase.
4) Servers and bartenders in our restaurants actually stand to lose money because of the taxing structure and mandates on tipped employees.
5) As businesses look to decrease expenses, many full-time employees will be shifted to part-time so the business does not have to pay benefits to those employees. That means there will be more working people who lose benefits such as health, dental and vision insurance. The loss of those benefits could cause greater problems down the road. OR the businesses will become more automated with self-service checkouts and kiosks for ordering, which will eliminate jobs and causing unemployment to increase. Loss of income from reduced hours will also be a negative. There are many other reasons to oppose this amendment, but I only have limited space to write. We encourage you to vote NO on this issue.
Destin City Council has passed a City Charter Amendment to be on the ballot as well. This amendment would place in the city’s charter a limitation on building heights to six stories or 75 feet. Anyone who wishes to have a building higher than that would have to wait for the next election, and the voters would decide whether to allow the building to be higher than 75 feet. This could not only control development, but stop it completely. Just like the minimum wage, it’s a legislative issue for council to decide. Development can mean other things, not only condos and/or residential units. If city council wants quality development, something we all should desire and work toward, perhaps parking garages could be built in the Harbor District, something promised to the businesses there years ago when those businesses agreed to allow the city to build the boardwalk along the harbor. Parking garages would relieve the traffic on Harbor Boulevard, especially in the summer and are the only piece of public infrastructure that pay for themselves.
The Destin Chamber opposes the amendment to the City Charter that would restrict building heights and ask citizens to vote on any building higher than six stories or 75 feet. We encourage you to vote NO on this issue.
Thank you for your continued support of the Destin Chamber. You’ve stayed with us, and we will continue to stay with you. After all, that’s how we’ll build this world-class community one business at a time. And it’s how we will stay #ChamberStrong!
Views: 0
