Opinion Published by Sarasota Herald-Tribune May 08

Which projects will jump-start local business?

Published: Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 10:18 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 10:18 a.m.

This story appeared in print on page A12_OPED

Sarasota Countians voted YES to paying for projects with a local-option, add-on sales tax of 1 percent to benefit our economy, environment and lifestyle.

Vote YES again on Tuesday.

The facts say that by voting YES to the bond issue, we can jump-start some "PennyWise" projects and gain the benefits sooner rather than later.

However, after the bond issue is approved come the decisions we will not make:

Priorities.

The county will decide which projects will be funded by the bond issue and jump-started.

I am pleading with the county to add one measure to its decision-making. There is a lot of talk these days about economic stimulus, so I'll call my measure the Economic Stimulus Value. The existing measures offered on the PennyWise icon on the county's Web site count the inflation dollars saved by spending now and speak to jobs created by the projects themselves. That's great but those are short-term benefits.

It is critical that the county evaluate which projects will give area businesses what they need to leverage our investment into long-term, stable and sustainable economic growth, a.k.a., an Economic Stimulus Value.

I don't have the tools and data to measure the Economic Stimulus Value. Others can and must, because I want every tax dollar spent to generate growth beyond short-term projects.

We've given the county funded projects, and now we're going to give the county a bonded loan to jump-start the projects. Please give us back completed projects that best enable our business community to grow.

[Name redacted for blog publication]

Sarasota

This story appeared in print on page A12_OPED