Is a Customs and Immigration facility at the airport really necessary? Should local government be funding something that is totally a federal responsibility; especially a facility that would be a first of its kind in the nation. It is never good to be the subject of an experiment. That type of facility would come under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security and not the county. This, in and of itself, results in questions that I will not even attempt to answer.
One could argue, as did Commissioner Smith, that it would be a service that would be beneficial to some personal and business elements of the community. He alluded to it being on par with libraries or parks. While it may sound logical, the premise itself is faulty which results in the wrong conclusion. There is no way that parks or libraries or water projects or street repairs are remotely the same as a Customs and Immigration facility. For these are services that almost every local government is responsible for building and maintaining. If a Customs and Immigration facility were equal to the others, then we would not be the first to have one that contemplates operating in this manner.
Even if you disagree and think local government should build and fund such facilities, does Martin County at this time have the funds to do so? We are about to enact a sales tax referendum specifically for infrastructure. If the commission now wants to build a new customs and immigration facility; would there be any wonder why the citizens are skeptical about trusting more of their money to the government for another boondoggle.
If non-tax-paying funds such as grant sources could be found for the capital portion of the project, what about any ongoing shortfall in the operating budget. For argument sake, let’s assume the county is promised or assured or sworn to by various interests that those interest would make up the shortfall, how would that promise be enforced? If it will be a fee based service and a shortfall occurs, then as fees go up fewer and fewer people will use the facility resulting in a higher and higher deficit. Once established, what if the federal government changes the parameters for the operation of the facility including even being able to close it if we wished? We have seen in the past what the feds approve and say in the present doesn’t necessarily matter in the future. We would be stuck with subsidizing something we no longer wanted and using more and more precious tax dollars to do so.
Our tax dollars should address the concerns and provide the services for the greatest number of our citizens. Once again, our county government will allow the favored few to have the larger majority subsidize their businesses and their lifestyles. This is an open ended obligation that we as a county should not contemplate nor endorse.
