As concerned residents of St. Michaels, we were shocked to learn about an important development in the race for Town Commissioner. Several days ago, at a candidates forum sponsored by the St. Michaels Business Association and restricted only to business community attendees, Mr. David Wojciechowski, who is seeking one of three Commissioner slots, stated that he was in favor of spending our Town’s entire annual revenue generated by the Talbot County Accommodations Tax for advertising to promote businesses and increase tourism.
We believe that Mr. Wojciechowski’s position is fiscally reckless and a betrayal of the residents of St. Michaels who pay the majority of taxes which support our Town. In fact, at a candidate forum sponsored by residents of the St. Michaels Historic District on April 13, Mr. Wojciechowski expressed considerable skepticism about the need to spend tax dollars for business marketing and cited existing and very substantial yearly marketing expenditures by the Inn at Perry Cabin, the Wildset Hotel and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. In front of the business community, he appears to have radically altered his position on this critical issue.
The $850,000 in yearly revenue from the Accommodation Tax accounts for 20 percent of the Town’s budget. To spend this enormous sum for private sector business promotion as candidate Wojciechowski advocates is wrong. It will mean that St. Michaels will need to increase taxes for residents and businesses to support a massive revenue shortfall or reduce vital services related to policing and infrastructure improvements.
We believe there is a strong and growing consensus among St. Michaels residents that oppose spending tax dollars to support businesses. The business community knows well that Talbot County has set aside substantial sums for business and tourism promotion given the fact that tourism brings in $300 million in yearly revenue for the entire county. St. Michaels is a major generator of County tourism. The business community and their chosen candidate, David Wojciechowski, appear willing to raid our Town’s budget for this irresponsible and unprecedented expenditure to the detriment of all taxpayers.
Residents of St. Michaels want a thriving and dynamic business community. This misguided position is not the way to achieve it.
Walda DuPriest
John Novak
Daniel Spiegel
Karen Wald
St. Michaels