In Sunday’s Stuart News, Eve Samples asked business people to join the newspaper’s sounding board on the subject of economic development. I have been a business owner for many years and have some level of expertise on the subject. As an elected official, I would be ineligible to belong to that sounding board. That doesn’t preclude me from expressing an opinion. I will just do so here instead.
The News editorial is quite right that we need further diversification from the trio of Florida business mainstays of agriculture, tourism and construction. The paper correctly insists that when taxpayers’ money is used by government to fund incentives, the three principles of transparency, accountability and proven performance by the companies should strictly be adhered to. However, I would go further and categorically state that government or their agents, such as the Business Development Board, has no right using taxpayer funds to assist certain companies while ignoring others. This type of favoritism is nothing more than crony capitalism.
What we owe any individual or business is a simple non-bureaucratic means of opening or moving to our area. The City of Stuart, Martin County and Florida should look at ways to advance economic development rather than hinder it. Permitting of any new enterprise can and should be simple with as few barriers as possible. What I would like to see for Stuart is that when a larger business is looking to open or move to the city, a point person from our economic development department act as an ombudsman to all departments on the applicant’s behalf. This would avoid the frustration that many business people face when dealing with the bureaucracy.
Over and over again, we have seen the Digital Domains and the Torrey Pines story played out. They are given millions in tax payer dollars that result in heartache instead of jobs and taxpayer debt instead of additional tax revenue. Government should stay out of the way of the private sector. What government can and should do is provide the basic infrastructure to have a great quality of life. Schools from pre-k to graduate school should be the best when compared with others in the nation and in the world. Amenities such as parks and libraries should be well maintained and free to the public. Our rivers should be able to be enjoyed. Roads, water and sewers should be first rate.
Elected officials and bureaucrats are not very good at picking winners and losers in the economic sphere. So why we continue to allow the same patterns and practices to continue is a mystery. What we, as government, can do is remain neutral and only pass regulations that further the public good. Let the market determine the feasibility of a particular business entity to prosper and survive. As taxpayers, we need to insist that government stop using our money to back bureaucratic-inspired schemes to allow slick characters to drink at the people’s trough. Government is never going to be smarter than the market.