Hilton Head council doubles mayor’s speech-writing budget

Hilton Head Island Mayor David Bennett will get $10,000 to pay for speech-writing services in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Town Council unanimously approved the expenditure Tuesday night — up from the $5,000 currently budgeted.

Paying for speech writing is a new concept for Hilton Head mayors.

Before this year, mayoral speeches were written by assistant town manager Greg DeLoach or the mayors themselves. Under mayors Tom Peeples and Drew Laughlin, who lost to Bennett in 2014, DeLoach prepared dozens of remarks and presentations for a variety of events, from ribbon-cuttings and festivals to State of the Community breakfasts.

On Wednesday, Bennett said he gave nearly 60 speeches last year, the majority of which he wrote himself. The rest were written by Tom Gardo, a longtime Hilton Head public relations professional, he added.

Gardo, who helped Bennett campaign for mayor in 2014, said Wednesday he did not charge the mayor for the eight to 12 remarks and presentations he prepared. However, he said he would expect compensation for future speech-writing services.

Bennett said he asked for a bigger budget because he wants to take a more professional approach to speech writing and plans to use Gardo and other speech writers to help him. He added that he plans to spend all $10,000.

“(Speeches are) not something you can just spiel out in five, 10 minutes,” Bennett said, “And frankly, if you’re just going to have a list of ‘We’re doing this and this and this and this,’ that’s boring. You’re looking for a means of engaging people through the course of your speech.”

DeLoach agreed that speech writing can take a great deal of time, up to several hours for a long speech. He added that some professionals charge several hundred dollars-per-hour for their services.

Community opinions are split on whether the expenditure is a good idea.

“$10,000 per year is a lot of speeches, one would think, for a mayor,” said Hilton Head Island businessman Peter Buonaiuto, who regularly comments at council meetings.

The money will come out of a $100,000 fund for public communications that was approved last year. The remaining $90,000 in the fund is available to pay Charleston public relations firm Rawle Murdy for work publicizing the town’s key issues, such as the Circle to Circle south-end traffic initiative, the construction of the new University of South Carolina Beaufort campus and promoting the town’s art community, DeLoach said Wednesday.

Town Council members did not have questions for Bennett Tuesday night, though council member Lee Edwards joked, “Is this going to make your speeches better?”

“Shorter,” Bennett responded with a smile. “A lot shorter.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 12:51 PM with the headline "Hilton Head council doubles mayor’s speech-writing budget."