Bed tax collectors want meeting with Walton County TDC board

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WALTON COUNTY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Tourism tax dollars amount to millions of dollars a year in Walton County, and that’s one of the things bed tax collectors want to discuss with the TDC advisory board.

But they have to get approval from the board of county commissioners in order to schedule a special meeting.

Bed tax collectors said they want to talk about expenditures, the open executive director position, and legal counsel before their next meeting in August.

They requested the meeting at Tuesday’s commission meeting, but the motion did not get voted on because there wasn’t a second.

Some bed tax collectors say they feel they are being silenced by the commissioners.

“We really need a forum to come together, we collect a lot of money in bed tax, especially this year, we are at 90 to 100 percent occupancy. There’s a lot of money coming in and the future of this county is at stake,” Tracy Louthain, representing Newman-Dailey, said.

“I want to know that when my company writes a check for just shy of $800,000 this year, I want to know that I can trust how it’s being spent, and I don’t trust that right now,” bed tax collector Amy Wise-Coble said.

Commissioner Tony Anderson made the motion to have the meeting.

Commissioner Danny Glidewell said he did not agree to it because the agenda item for expenditure was too broad and because for the time being, the interim TDC director and county attorney positions are filled.

“I felt that allowing, after we had already hired him (Clay Adkinson), allowing that meeting to go on was undermining his confidence that the board of county commissioners is on his side,” Glidewell said.

The commissioners decided to instead work on setting up a public meeting between the board and the TDC advisory board.

The date for that meeting has not been decided yet.