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Paying to renourish beaches pays us back

By Nicholas Fritsch
Published September 14, 2005

Next month a nourishment project is scheduled to occur along 9 miles of Pinellas beaches from Sand Key to North Redington Beach. Restoring the beach is usually controversial. In this column, I will share a perspective that provides a complete picture of the purposes and benefits of those beautiful beaches.

Let's begin with a comparison of beaches with other public infrastructure. Roads, bridges and airports provide transportation for commerce, pleasure and recreation. Likewise, beaches provide for commerce, pleasure and recreation. All of these wear away or wear out completely over time and need maintenance or replacement to continue to serve us.

Looking at the commerce aspect, beaches provide about 82,000 jobs in Pinellas for our friends and neighbors. About $2.75-billion is paid in salaries and wages, which help make tourism our No. 1 industry in Pinellas. Also, tourists directly and indirectly spend more than $6.2-billion supporting our local economy.

Turning to taxes, another aspect of our economy, it is important to know that your property taxes in Pinellas are not used to fund nourishment of our beaches. A half-cent of the bed tax at hotels and motels has been reserved to pay the county's portion to restore beaches.

More on property taxes: Beach residents and businesses along the barrier island of Sand Key pay 12 percent of the county ad valorem taxes even though they are only about 5 percent of the land in the county. So beach property owners pay more than twice the amount of taxes for county services than residents on the mainland.

Across the state, about $3.4-billion in sales taxes are collected annually from tourists for state services. Without that infusion of revenue from tourists, taxpaying Floridians would need to make up that difference - unless we are willing to accept cuts in state services.

Each year, the state spends $30- to $40-million to restore beaches. Looking at the $40-million as an investment, it generates $3.4-billion in return on the investment. In everyday terms, if I deposited $400 in the bank or a stock, at the end of one year, I would have a balance of $10,000. That is a really good deal!

Beaches contribute to our pleasure and our environment by providing a nesting habitat for sea turtles, water birds, sand crabs and coquina shells. Additionally, many wading birds feed from the edge of the beach.

But, the No. 1 reason to maintain adequate beaches is to protect the public safety and other infrastructure behind the beach. Adequate beaches reduce the amount of public and private property damage as well as insurance and replacement costs from severe storms and hurricanes by dissipating the wave energy.

In conclusion, there are many economic benefits from beaches: jobs, tax revenue, reduced insurance costs. The environmental plusses help create the unique and wonderful life we appreciate when we visit the beach.

For many Pinellas residents, a morning walk or an afternoon at the beach sunning on the sand, swimming or floating in the water, or just relaxing make living here a dream come true.

Nicholas Fritsch lives in Clearwater on Sand Key and volunteers on select community issues.

[Last modified September 14, 2005, 02:15:34]