Most of your local people will stay with you. And we got in this position years ago, and even our locals got where when they knew they were going to Panama, they didn't buy gas here. But when Bay County implemented a gas tax, Franklin County gas stations reaped some benefits, he said. Now the tables have turned again. A number of managers pointed out that Franklin has always been at some disadvantage in gas prices, compared to Panama City, because of the county's low volume of gas sales.
Major distributors set gas prices based in part on the number of gallons a station or area sells.
Previously, the lack of a gas tax in Franklin County made the playing field more level. But that advantage is gone. Our tourist credit cards are half of what it was, because we don't have anything to slow 'em down now. Lee McLemore, of Red Rabbit Foods in Apalachicola, has seen the same thing. I just went up to Georgia, and I paid 89 cents for gas there.