Cost for Hosting Tourists Must Be Built into Tourism Taxes

To The Editor:
We are a seashore community economically driven by tourism. The intrinsic cost of hosting tourists each summer is too much for taxpayers to bear. We welcome hundreds of thousands of tourists each summer to our town. But the wear and tear on our roads, boardwalk, infrastructure (water and sewer) and additional services for police, fire and EMT’s increase our cost more dramatically than if we weren’t hosting this influx of tourists.
What if one had to host a large group of people at their home on a daily basis, and the chef gets paid, the servers get paid, but the host who prepares the home for their arrival, cleaning, making any necessary repairs to make sure their comfortable and cleaning up after them, gets paid nothing? After a while they realize they can’t afford to host these events anymore because no money was allocated for them to cover expenses and they’re broke. That is exactly the dilemma in Wildwood. The cost for hosting our tourists and various events must be built into tourism taxes. Businesses, along with Trenton, are making all the money. Don’t get me wrong, I want businesses and our state to prosper, but not at taxpayers’ expense. But how much of these tourists’ dollars are going back into our city coffers to offset the cost of hosting our tourists? I was told the City of Wildwood has been collecting a 2 percent sales tax that is supposed to be used to offset the cost of hosting our Convention Center. I would like to know how much revenue is collected annually? It surely isn’t enough. The brunt of the property tax bill is on the backs of residential homeowners and we’ve had enough.
Many business and residential property owners are upset with the Greater Wildwood Tourism Improvement Development Authority (GWTIDA) that operates the convention center. Their advertising mantra is, “Are you Free This Summer…The Wildwoods Are, Free Beaches, Concerts and Events.” It’s not free. Free for our welcomed tourists but not taxpayers, it costs us plenty. Originally, when the Convention Center was constructed and GWTIDA took over its operations, I was told North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest were supposed to pay a substantial amount of money yearly to the City of Wildwood. This money would be used to offset the cost of hosting this large facility since no property taxes are collected from the Convention Center or over six acres of beachfront parking lots.
Are we currently getting any revenue from these municipalities and how much? Has Wildwood been receiving yearly principal and interest payments from the convention center for the outstanding revenue bonds? How about the Tram Car — do we have a lease in place? Is rent being collected for using our portion of the Boardwalk? If not what about charging Wildwood’s 2 percent sales tax per ticket? Are we adding this tax (per ticket or team) to large groups that host various events and overnight stays on our beaches? If not, this needs to be done now.
Many taxpayers can’t even gain access to blocks of our beaches when businesses have these events. It’s not right. Wildwood taxpayers need to address these intrinsic issues with our mayor and commissioners and make sure changes are implemented now so as to remove this unfair tax burden on taxpayers and incur the bill for tourists where it belongs on tourism taxes.
KATHLEEN MILLS
Wildwood