The UWF Haas Center’s analysis of the economic impact of the design, construction and installation of the Chappie James Memorial found it to be $1.27 million outside of the cost of construction – a rate of return of less than 55 cents on the dollar.
DIG DEEPER: With the blessing of Escambia County Clerk Pam Childers, the Board of County Commissioners relabeled the statue of Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James and its plaza as an “open-air” museum. This is only the second completely open-air museum in Florida built with Tourist Development Tax (TDT) revenue.
- Florida’s first completely open-air museum is Maurice A. Ferré Park in Miami. The $73 million project, which included design development, environmental remediation, and construction, was supported by the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency. The park covers 23 acres and extends from the Pérez Art Museum Miami to the American Airlines Arena and from Biscayne Boulevard to Biscayne Bay.
While Childers claimed she called around the state on the Sacred Foundation’s Wine in the Water event, it doesn’t appear she did the same research for the open-air museum.
- Based on Childers’ statements, the county commissioners voted unanimously to give the Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. Memorial Foundation $750,000 in TDT funds, $100,000 from the county’s general fund, and $25,000 from Kohler’s discretionary fund.
BUT THERE’S A PROBLEM
Deputy County Attorney Kristin Hual said the commissioners needed to make a legislative finding that the project promotes tourism to allocate TDC funds. “We would need documentation of public ownership, which would mean the city must be the applicant and the recipient of the funding. We would need an independent economic analysis to support a finding that this, in fact, does promote tourism as it’s defined in the statute.”
- The HAAS Center’s economic assessment found that the memorial’s design, construction, and installation generated 24 short-term jobs over one year: 18 direct, two indirect and four induced.
The direct impact of the construction, design and installation is $2,293,890 for the $2,322,886 expenditure. Indirect and Induced economic impact is $1,269,955 combined.
BACKGROUND
Methodology: “To assess the impact, researchers ran the various economic events through an IMPLAN Input-Output (I-O) model. The methods used to produce IMPLAN’s economic data set and economic impact estimates have been widely published in professional and peer-reviewed academic journals. Many of these methods are considered standard best practices in a wide variety of applied economic fields today. IMPLAN estimates the direct, indirect, and induced effects that stem from economic activity associated with the construction project.”
Direct Impacts: “These include employment and expenditure related to construction and other improvements made on the site.”
Indirect Impacts: “Business-to-business transactions result in indirect effects. Consulting, legal services, and off-site modifications are all examples of this indirect spending.”
Induced Impacts: “Researchers measure the induced effects as labor income minus taxes and savings. This is evident when employees, whether directly or indirectly, spend money on local products and services.”
Read EIA Chappie James Memorial EIA
SUPPORT PROJECT, NOT FUNDING MECHANISM
Inweekly supports the Chappie James Memorial. However, the Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. Memorial Foundation, Escambia County and the City of Pensacola must figure out how to build it without the TDT funds.
County Clerk Pam Childers needs to do more research on where else in Florida TDT funds have been used to build open-air museums and how they compare to the Chappie James project. Our research found that the only completely open-air museum is in Miami, and it was constructed with CRA funds. However, Childers may be able to get more information when she calls around the state.
The plaza is a “monument” not a museum but no matter. The Foundation’s website refers to it both as a “memorial plaza” and now also as an “open air museum” so they’re confused too. (The older PNJ reporting going back a few years all consistently describe the plaza as a monument.) When the TDC directly asked why the Foundation wanted the $750,000 they were told it was needed to build the concrete platform. However, a recurring theme of Florida Attorney General Opinions related to the expenditure of tourism development tax is that the “primary purpose” of the expenditure must be “tourism development.” That’s not the case here. It doesn’t even seem a close call. Absent a private benefactor writing a check for $750,000, and to date private financial support for the project seems minimal, I think the BCC is now forced to suck it up and use General Fund or LOST revenues to pay the $750,000. It’s not as if Escambia County is broke. Just back in September, the BCC voted to increase the general property tax levy for this current budget year by $18 million. This all seems like a self-inflicted BCC wound. The much bigger, and much longer-term issue is who will maintain the project. In ten-years time, who will have to pay to clean the monuments, repair the concrete, cut the grass? Is there any way to get the city out of this project and make it fully a county project? How about moving the project to the Pensacola Bay Center to be renamed the “General Daniel “Chappie” James, Jr. Center”?
Maybe someone could get and post some verified tourist (and local) attendance and interest data from the local Chappie James Home Museum of Pensacola. Would that help? It has been open at least 5 years now, right? (Well, by appointment only.)