Slight rant, but with a possible solution suggested: In the last twelve years I have watched the growth rate in Nosara reach what one friend described as “critical mass” . The infrastructure is not great enough to deal with the influx of people and more and more committees and associations are being formed to deal with the rising number of problems and issues that go along with these growing pains. Firefighters, Water Assn, Security Commission, Monkey Rescue, School Scholarships, Beach Cleanup/Garbage Disposal, Recycling Centre, Nosara Animal Care, not to mention areas that need attention like road maintenance, dust control and septic treatment. The list is surely longer than what I mention here and will undoubtedly continue to grow. These numerous committees and associations require our help as a community. Businesses get asked quite frequently to contribute/donate in the form of cash funds or prizes for silent auctions at charity events in an attempt to raise money for their causes. As a (Nosara and national) resident and business owner, I of course want to help as much as possible. However, as business owners, most of us work and run businesses not because we are bored, but because we have chosen to live in Nosara and need an income to allow us to stay here. We are not among those that are able to live here without having to work. Those that go to the auctions, bid on an item donated by a business and walk away feeling as though they’ve contributed to the cause. Paying $40 for a $50 gift certificate to a restaurant is hardly a sacrifice. The only ones that actually donated anything are the business owners and the volunteers that organised the event. There seems to be some sort of assumption that business owners are making a mint off the influx of tourism that Nosara has seen, that we are profiteers cashing in on Nosara’s limited resources. In my experience running a business here is reminiscent of a non profit organisation (if one does things entirely legally). There are people buying $2 million dollar properties in Nosara, why are we not asking them to contribute to the community? What if we started our own private “tax collection” for Nosara, by way of a fee collected when properties are sold? Something like 1% of the purchase price? If you buy a property for $250,000, you kick back $2500 into a fund that then gets divided up and distributed among all the associations and committees. This way, those that are able to buy property here are given the opportunity to give back to the community that they are buying into. Would it be a stretch to imagine that $10,000,000/year is traded in property exchanges in Nosara? Thats a lot of dosh back into the community!
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 21:39:34 +0000
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