Tuesday February 17th, the Bay County Commission in Panama City Florida will meet to again discuss the bed tax increase. This is a regularly scheduled meeting with the bed tax discussion last on the agenda for discussion. The January meeting resulted in the bed tax collection being increased from 3 cents to 4 cents. The 5th cent was discussed, but it was decided to table that decision until this upcoming Tuesday.
If you remember the last meeting, I predicted that the fourth cent would pass but the fifth cent would not. Commissioners Mike Thomas, Bill Dozier, and Mike Nelson were all in support of the increase, while Commissioner Gainer was adamantly opposed. Commissioner and Chairman Jerry Girvin was considered the swing vote, and could go either way. In the beginning he voiced that he wasn’t sure which way he would ultimately go. In the end, he voted no to the fourth cent, but it still passed as all it needed was a majority.
The fifth cent requires a super-majority or 4 of the 5 commissioners.
You can download the agenda here.
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