State Parks, Golf, and Homelessness

Note: These are the personal opinions of Lenore Wilson, and do not represent corporate policy or the views of any staff or Continuum of Care member.

If you have ever talked to legislators about funding homelessness, education, universities, services for the disabled, the Everglades - whatever your major interest - you have probably heard the question: "But if we fund your favorite cause, we will have to cut something else. What do you suggest?"

This is difficult, because there is so much of value being cut. You rather think that anything that stays in the budget has to be even more valuable than education, the Florida Highway Patrol, water resources, vocational training, etc., and you don't want to be the person pointing the finger at it. Generally I end up talking about increasing revenue streams - for instance, closing the loophole that mandates the state charge sales tax on a $10,000 fishing boat, but collect no sales taxes on a million dollar party yacht. I can't say this has ever been productive for me, but it does save me from saying, "I think we should take the money from the university system."

How you answer such a question is totally up to you, but I would like to mention that, in fact, there are some earmarks that could stand some scrutiny. A perennial favorite of cost cutters everywhere is the staggering multi-million dollar recurring subsidy for the World Hall of Golf in Daytona Beach. This year there is a related project that seems to me, at least, to be even more worthy of attention.

A pair of bills filed in Tallahassee, SB 1846 and HB 1239, would require that at least one state park in each of Florida's districts have a top-of-the-line golf course. The measures, filed by Florida Sen. John Thrasher and Florida Rep. Patrick Rooney, would have tax payers foot the bill for the courses designed by Jack Nicklaus. The retired pro golfer would be paid $625,000 for each course. The bill was prompted by conversations with Rick Scott, a friend of Nicklaus, who was moved by Nicklaus' desire to leave a legacy for the state, and to promote tourism.

To put this in context, there are already 33 Jack Nicklaus golf courses in Florida. Also, this is part of a proposal to close 53 state parks, which collectively bring in 20 million tourists per year. Gov. Scott has said this is part of his deficit reduction plan, which might make sense, except that the state parks actually generate more revenue than they cost. The only state park so far named as being slated for closure is John Dickerson, which costs $2.3 million to run, but brings in over $3 million per year, and protects the water resources for the Jupiter area.

I probably don't need to add that the process of converting state parks into golf courses would cost more than the $625,000 per course set to go to Mr. Nicklaus (who is far from broke), but it might be worthy of note that Florida already has more golf courses than any other state (over 1000), few make money, and many are closing. The issues of fertilizer, pesticides, filling in wetlands and creating artificial water traps are not considered environmentally sound.

You may well feel this is an excellent use of state resources, in which case I encourage you to say so to your legislators. I gave the references to the bill numbers so that you can study it further. But if you feel that in a time of shared sacrifice, this money could be used in better ways, I would encourage you to make that opinion known.

Personally, I believe in the state park program, and the role state parks play in maintaining our ecology and guarding our water supplies. And I would really hope we would not have to choose between state parks, homeless funding, schools, universities, vocational training, funds for the developmentally disabled, the Florida Highway Patrol, etc.

The sales tax, already a regressive tax, could be evenly applied so that even the richest of us had to pay for luxury goods like season rentals of sky box seats at athletic events and luxury yachts - it wouldn't even be a tax hike, as the sales tax would remain the same. We can stop subsidizing all our professional sports teams (a base payout of a million dollars per year per team, with many getting more than that). And finally, quashing the idea of destroying a state park system that serves every resident in Florida and substituting it with a golf course system "The Jack Nicklaus Golf Trail," that would charge high fees and serve only a few of the rich.