If you believe the cable news anchors, this year’s presidential election is the most important in history but, oddly enough, that is what they’ve said about every election in my lifetime. Billions of dollars are on the line for media companies, campaigns, and consultants to get you to vote on Nov. 8, and a boring election does not fit the narrative.
No doubt, for dealers the most important election has nothing to do with Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton; rather, it involves the local folks who are vying for local county commission, school board, and state legislative and executive positions. Bad governance from local officials will affect you more than any change in Washington, D.C. Indisputable proof of this exists in my home state of Florida.
This spring, the Florida Supreme Court struck down two key provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Reform Act from 2004, which limited attorneys’ fees and restricted the length of time an employee could stay on workers’ compensation benefits. Because of the ruling, workers’ compensation rates skyrocketed 19.6% on Oct. 1 for all businesses in the state—a killer for the construction industry.
Regulations, impact fees, and special tax assessments are being implemented by local jurisdictions across the country. There are local candidates who proclaim they are fiscal conservatives and business-friendly; however, when they enter office they are co-opted by county staff members who put government needs over those of the people.
Locally, we had a couple of long-term county commissioners who proclaimed they were fiscally conservative Republicans. Over the last four years, these two politicians voted for a 14% property tax increase, the highest impact fees in the state of Florida, a very restrictive land development plan, and an extra penny sales tax. All of this was crippling to local businesses, who joined together for change and ousted both of them in August’s GOP primary.
The big problem this industry has with promoting good local governance is that local dealers and suppliers do not get support from larger national corporations whose interests are just as affected. Many times, the national big-box businesses have much larger local investments than the independent dealers, but they do not have a clue as to what is going on locally.
The big-box corporations live in a world wherein it is better to remain silent and not make waves politically. They fail to realize that by remaining silent, local and state governments are picking their pockets every day. If the national chains formed political action committees to work locally with other groups to target the laws and politicians who are trying to impede their business, their return would probably be twentyfold.
The national big-box operations should consider this reality: Everyone’s workers’ compensation rates in Florida increased 19.6%, including theirs. Even worse, the trial lawyers are now free to file lawsuits against them, and they are a much bigger target. Their cost could be astronomical. What about all of the local jurisdictions raising property taxes and fees on their properties nationwide, uncontested? How much is that costing the national companies? The big-box stores are cash cows to local county commissioners, and they will milk them every chance they get.
If you want to vote for the most important races in November, start at the bottom of the ballot. Those are the ones that really matter.
