Time to BID farewell?

Keyport’s latest business improvement district (BID) tax was recently passed without much fanfare, but that may not be the case if it survives another year.

Discontent has mounted toward the BID assessment, which is mandatory for commercial businesses in the borough. Begun in 1999, the BID tax is collected by the municipality on behalf of the Keyport Business Alliance (KBA), which maintains a board of directors that chooses how to best spend the money.

To the KBA, this 25 cent per $100 assessed tax is a reasonable price to pay to boost commerce in Keyport as a whole. The revenues are used to pay for parades, advertising, aesthetic improvements for the downtown, and other means of promoting tourism and business within the borough.

Thanks, but no thanks, say the Concerned Commercial Property Owners and Business Owners, a group formed to rid the borough of the tax and KBA.

The Concerned Owners complain that the KBA has done little but force businesses to spring for events that were once run for free by nonprofits, public service organizations or the Chamber of Commerce. Events like these might be a boost for merchants along Keyport’s downtown, but may hold little value for businesses that don’t rely on customer foot traffic, like office professionals.

It should also be noted that one of the lead voices against the KBA is the Keyport Chamber of Commerce, whose membership has dwindled to only six businesses since the KBA was formed.

The council and KBA board can dismiss the voices of these disaffected merchants at their own risk. The BID assessment may mean little to corporate franchises with deep wells of start-up capital, but could it one day become an incentive for the mom-and-pop businesses that give Keyport its unique charm and character to go somewhere else?

A survey by the Concerned Owners claims that more than 80 percent of the merchants they contacted are now against this tax. We hold doubts regarding the scientific merits of the survey, but there seems to be enough opposition for the KBA and council to explore the issue further.

The KBA’s members will vote in March on whether the tax should continue. Until then, the council and KBA should encourage debate on this matter and hear out all of the arguments before deciding if continuing this tax is the best course for the future.