“Please let me finish.”
“Sorry, John, go right ahead.”
“When they were looking for land, they came to the council with a number of proposals that sort of set them apart from other developers, things they wanted that other developers never seem to think about.”
“What sort of things?”
“Well, at first, they wanted to incorporate as their own town. We explained to them that we wouldn’t do that, because that would put them outside our tax base. Then they wanted some other things that were all aimed at making them as separate as possible.”
“What sort of things?” Holly asked again, continuing to play dumb. She wanted Westover to have to spell it out.
“For instance, they let us know up front that they weren’t going to hire much local labor, that they would be mostly bringing in their own people.”
“But that wouldn’t be so good for Orchid, would it, John?”
“Normally, no, but the taxes on such a large and expensively developed parcel of land more than made up for that.”
“I see, it was the money.”
“Well, of course it was the money,” Westover said irritably. “That one development accounts for a very healthy percentage of our income from local property taxes.”
“I understand, John.”
“They even brought in their own construction workers, which didn’t sit well with local builders, I can tell you, and there were other things we don’t need to go into right now.”
“What things?”
“I just said, I don’t want to go into all of them now,” Westover said heatedly.
“Sorry, go ahead, John.”
“Well, the whole thing has worked out brilliantly for Orchid Beach,” Westover said.
“Yes, I’ve seen the Westover Motors stickers on the vehicles from out there.”
“Damnit, Holly, I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about the community as a whole, and how we benefit from having them out there.”
“How does the community benefit, apart from the tax revenues?” Holly asked.
“In many ways.”
“Such as?”
Westover was sweating now. “Holly, you’re just going to have to take my word for it.”
“I’m glad to do that, John,” she replied.
“Now, as I say, the Palmetto Gardens people want to be as separate as possible, and that works very well for the community, too.”
“You already said that, John.”
“Now I understand that the question of the licensing of a security guard has arisen.”
“You spoke to Barney Noble, then?”
“Yes, he called me an hour ago.”
“I see. Go on.”