No Case For a Sales Tax Hike, No More Talking About Stalking - Move to Plan B

The Tampa Tribune today published Ken Roberts Letter to the Editor titled ‘No case’ for referendum for sales tax increase. We are reposting his well thought out letter on the Eye and also include some of our own editorial comments.

‘No case’ for referendum for sales tax increase

Should Hillsborough County commissioners vote to put a sales tax increase referendum on the 2016 ballot? Regardless what the specific plan is, should we raise sales taxes to pay for it? A careful look reveals no case for a sales tax increase referendum.

First and foremost: The county already has the money. We have been told for years now that there is no money available to fund transportation improvements, and we must have a new revenue source. But if you ignore what they have been saying and watch what they are doing, you find this is nonsense. During the 2016 budgeting process about $121 million of new money was found. While saying transportation is the top priority for the county, commissioners spent only $8 million of this extra money on transportation.

The people have already donated $121 million. There is no case for us to raise taxes on ourselves for another $117 million a year for the next 30 years. Transportation improvements are expensive enough without paying for them twice.

Second, there are those on the board who say, “We believe in democracy; let’s put it on the ballot and let the people decide.” But, again, if you ignore what they say and watch what they do, this position doesn’t hold water, either. While they are saying they want to let the people decide, what they have been doing is working to deny our right to decide on another important tax item that was scheduled to appear on the 2016 ballot.

State law requires voters to review and re-authorize taxing authorities. In 2016 we were scheduled to vote on whether to continue the taxing authority of the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, but supporters of a sales tax increase had that item taken off the 2016 ballot. They thought that two tax issues on the same ballot would spell doom for at least one of them, so they went to our state legislators and asked them to act to get it off the ballot to increase the odds of passing a sales tax increase. Our state legislators quietly passed a law and took it off the ballot.

If the county commission believes so strongly in the people having the right to decide, then why take away the people’s right to decide on continuation of the Children’s Board’s taxing authority? The answer is: They are not interested in our right to decide. They are interested in passing a sales tax increase.

Commissioner Sandra Murman has offered an alternative to a sales tax increase for funding transportation improvements. Three components are involved: a 5-cent increase in the gas tax ($25 million); a new mobility fee to pay for the impact of development on the existing system ($30 million); and a reprioritizing of the budget to dedicate a significant amount of new revenues to a transportation fund. Dedicating 50 percent of the $121 million of new money from the 2016 budget would mean $60 million. Add that to the gas tax and mobility fee, and that’s a total of $115 million per year to fund improvements — with no new sales tax increase!

We need to oppose putting a sales tax increase on the ballot and insist the county use the three-step funding approach to improve transportation as outlined above. A sales tax increase is not needed, and a vote to put one on the ballot is a vote for a sales tax increase. Tell the commissioners to vote “no” on putting this on the ballot and use the money they have.


Ken Roberts
Apollo Beach
The writer is with Citizens Organized for Sound Transportation.

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Roberts brings up the point how local power brokers and Children's Board lobbyists successfully lobbied Tallahassee last year to get the Children's Board property tax, up for reauthorization in 2016, off the 2016 ballot. Back then the Hillsborough County power brokers were fearful of having two tax referendums on the 2016 ballot fearing they would both be defeated. We never heard a peep about that action from the "let the voters vote on the transportation sales tax hike" crowd. That action actually disenfranchised voters this year from voicing whether to reauthorize the property tax for the Children's Board which recently had to deal with their own cronyism issues.

Received via a public records request was the text message thread below dated 5/21/2015 between crony Beth Leytham and County Administrator Mike Merrill. How often did Leytham meet with the editorial boards as a conduit between her and Merrill to influence Merrill? Leytham informs Merrill that the Governor signed the bill that got the Children's Board property tax reauthorization off the 2016 ballot. Merrill answers Leytham with a hand clap emoticon to display his "glee"and responds "the way is being made clear" [for his huge proposed sales tax hike to get on the 2016 ballot]. Is that nauseating?

Text messages between Beth Leytham and Mike Merrill
on 5/21/2015 (click to enlarge)

5/21/2015 is two weeks before the 6/11/2015 Policy Leadership Group (PLG) meeting where the Parsons/Leytham/Merrill cabal proposed another huge 30 year one-half percent sales tax hike - a huge tax hike for a plan that did not even exist. The cabal knew from the get-go that another sales tax hike referendum was the answer. That is why Merrill was cheerfully clapping when told the Children's Board property tax reauthorization got off the 2016 ballot.  

I have been a consultant and have had consultants work for me and I have never seen communication like this between consultants and the high level executive that hired them. 

Is the language used in this text thread professional? Is the language used in this text thread how consultants and their employer normally communicate? Is the language used in this text thread appropriate between the highest level bureaucrat in the county and the politically well connected PR crony Leytham? 

What consultant and high level executive talks about stalking? 

When Noah Pransky first broke his story about Beth Leytham back last September, Merrill had the audacity to tell Pransky he did not even know who Beth Leytham was in August 2014. That was when Leytham sent Merrill a text message regarding the hiring of a transportation expert [Parsons Brinckerhoff her client] with "communication team in tow" [a team of one - her]. 

That is laughable. How does Merrill get from saying he did not know who Leytham was in August 2014 to having the text message thread above in May 2015 saying it's ok to be stalked by his consultant.

There is something very wrong down at County Center that has enabled cronies and close associates to wield such undue power and influence, and enabled a powerful bureaucracy to spin out of control overreaching its own authority.

The dark cloud hanging over Go Hillsborough is not going away. The process was flawed resulting in a flawed plan. The ethics of the entire debacle stinks. What business community will support and sink $2 million into an advocacy campaign to support such a crony flawed smelly mess? 

Roberts LTE lays out the fiscal reality that we do not need a sales tax hike to fund our roads and transportation. 

There is a way out but the commissioners must use their own political capital which is what they are elected to do. They must dump Go Hillsborough and reign in the bureaucrats to bring integrity back into the process. They must do fiscal due diligence to reprioritize our current budget and use the powers they already have to start funding our roads and transportation NOW.  

Stop pursuing a sales tax hike and stop any further talking about any type of stalking.

We must move on to Plan B!

Update:  Text thread that reflects the names of the Leytham/Merrill text thread can be found here.

Chamber's Political Cavalry Ponders a Poll With the Wizard of Oz of County Center

Sunday's Tribune reported the Greater Tampa Chamber is "pondering" doing a poll on the sales tax hike referendum. 

The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce is considering polling Hillsborough County voters to gauge their appetite for a half-cent sales tax to finance road, trail and transit projects.

The chamber’s money and influence would be crucial in selling the transportation tax to voters if county commissioners put the measure on the Nov. 8 ballot. That support will likely depend on the results of the poll, if there is one.

Start by asking those polled if we should first begin appropriately funding our roads and transportation within our existing tax revenues as we know the county has $123 million of new revenues in 2016, including $40-50 million of new recurring revenues as our county revenues stream continues going up.

Of course poll results are only as relevant as details such as the specific questions asked and the demographics of who is actually polled is known.

Instead of pondering whether to do a poll, the bigger question is will a valid poll officially drive a stake through any proposed sales tax hike? Voters are restless and more upset than ever this election cycle. Putting a sales tax hike wanting billions more on the 2016 ballot going to "placate" them? And yes the billions more is for a plan that includes high cost trains that will benefit few  - again. Deja Vu?

According to the Tribune, the Chamber sent their political cavalry to County Center to help their poll pondering:

The chamber is serious enough about a poll that it sent former Florida Gov. Bob Martinez and former U.S. Rep. Jim Davis to meet with county officials about possible poll questions. 

Martinez and Davis met with County Administrator Mike Merrill and County Attorney Chip Fletcher several weeks ago and brought along a draft of some possible questions, Merrill said.

The Tribune neglected to mention that Martinez and Davis are now lobbyists with Holland and Knight. In 2010 Holland and Knight donated at least $25K to the pro rail PAC Moving Hillsborough Forward and were big supporters of the rail tax. Davis was not just "involved" in the 2010 rail tax referendum, he was a public spokesperson for Moving Hillsborough Forward.

Why did the Chamber send in their political cavalry to meet with unelected bureaucrats if they want to gain insights regarding the transportation policy issue? Merrill and Fletcher are not policy makers and they are not accountable to any voters. Why wasn't the Chamber's political cavalry talking with the actual policy makers, the county commissioners? And what role was County Attorney Fletcher playing in a discussion about a poll?

Martinez and Davis met with the wrong people because on the transportation issue - Merrill is tainted. He is a big problem and a big liability - whether of his own doing or enabled by others. Merrill is a staunch supporter of another huge sales tax hike, is smack in the middle of the crony Go Hillsborough debacle and has been the public and media face throughout the flawed Go Hillsborough campaign. And the law enforcement investigation may be so narrowly focused that we may never know the true extent of the crony mess Merrill helped create.

The Chamber knows how to do polls. There's a good possibility they've already done some polling about Go Hillsborough and a sales tax hike. So what was really going on and what was really being discussed with bureaucrats Merrill and Fletcher?

We are left wondering what the Wizard of Oz of County Center will pull out next from behind his green curtain.

The Tribune article also reports

The results of the sheriff’s investigation are expected to be made public in the next week or so. If the investigation turns up no wrongdoing, Merrill said, he expects the chamber to support whatever transportation plan and financing mechanism county commissioners approve.

“On February 17th or 18th, we will be able to restart the actual decision-making on the plan and the funding so we can be in a position at the end of March to do a sales tax, if that’s the way the board wants to go,” Merrill said.

Merrill speaks for the Chamber? Merrill tells the county commissioners when he wants them to vote on a sales tax hike? How many times has Merrill told the media since last year when a vote on the sales tax hike was coming? Instead it keeps being delayed. Wasn't it Merrill who kept saying a full year was needed to educate persuade voters to support the sales tax hike? Wasn't that the excuse used after the 2010 sales tax was overwhelmingly defeated - "they" simply did not have enough time?

Like Beth Leytham, Merrill is wearing too many hats and playing too many kingmaker roles down at County Center, some of which blatantly overstep his authority as County Administrator. The county commissioners cannot delegate their policy making authority to an unelected bureaucrat and it is illegal for Merrill and other county or city employees to be discussing a private sector advocacy campaign in private group meetings.

Where did the Tribune get this statement?

A main component of the Go Hillsborough plan — mobility fees paid by developers — is the subject of a commission workshop Feb. 4. The fees are meant to capture more of the true costs of increased traffic from new developments.

Mobility fees are not tied to the flawed Go Hillsborough plan or any sales tax hike. Who told Salinero that? We suspect it was a Merrill again. However, we participated in some of the county's focus group meetings regarding mobility fees. Salinero should ask Lucia Garsys, one of Merrill's deputies who has been facilitating the focus group meetings, if mobility fees are tied to Go Hillsborough and a sales tax hike. She told us mobility fees are NOT connected to any proposed sales tax hike. She acknowledged, as many of the county commissioners are well aware of, mobility fees are totally separate from any sales tax hike, as they should be. Otherwise it looks like a quid pro quo with the development community.

Go here to find the Mobility Fee presentation that will be presented to the county commissioners at a Thursday workshop. Nowhere is there any mention of the mobility fee tied to Go Hillsborough or specifically to a sales tax hike.

How many times are the county commissioners going to tolerate County Administrator Mike Merrill, an unelected bureaucrat accountable to no voter, making misleading statements to the media? How much longer are the county commissioners willing to keep him as the tainted face of our transportation issue? They must send Merrill back to doing the job he was hired to do and remove him totally from our transportation issue.

The quote at the end of this article by Chamber President and CEO Bob Rohrlack is a bit disingenuous almost three years after the transportation initiative began.

“The fact that our community as a whole is talking much more about transportation is good,” Rohrlack said. “There is an overwhelming majority that is saying doing nothing is not an option.”

The county spent over $1.3 million on a taxpayer funded marketing campaign for the sales tax hike that resulted in blatant cronyism and a law enforcement investigation. Yes, the community is talking transportation but it's not talking about support for a sales tax hike.

We have been publicly saying "doing nothing is not an option" since the transportation initiative started in 2013.

We have been publicly requesting the county commissioners have a Plan B for a long time.

Where has the Chamber or the rest of the business community publicly been, especially since this crony Go Hillsborough mess? Sitting on the sidelines as we wait and wait and wait while our local roads continue to crumble and deteriorate as nothing gets done. 

If the Chamber is really serious about the "doing nothing is not an option", the Chamber should have sent their political calvary to tell the elected officials - not unelected bureaucrats - time for a serious discussion about a Plan B - no sales tax hike referendum required. The commissioners do not have to reinvent the wheel, they can start the discussion with Murman's proposal. They have all the data they need and they do not need Mike Merrill, more consultants, studies or crony PR firms.

Instead of pondering another poll, it would be refreshing to hear the Chamber publicly request the county commissioners to actually do something and NOW.

Regardless of the outcome of the law enforcement investigation, Go Hillsborough and any proposed sales tax hike has a dark cloud hanging over it. No $2 million advocacy campaign, funded and supported again by special interests or astroturf, can overcome that dark cloud.

There's a good chance a valid poll will reflect little or no appetite for another huge sales tax hike so the Chamber should just do it - do a poll. We then hope they will honestly publicly provide the results and details.

If the county commissioners vote to put a toxic sales tax hike, created by a flawed and crony marketing campaign, on the 2016 ballot, we believe it will most likely fail - and nothing will get done. We all lose.

Then what will the Chamber say?

Tribune calls for a "Plan B" - No Questions Asked

We posted here yesterday about the Tampa Tribune article targeting citizens who had alternative ideas about how to fund our roads and transportation without another 30 year huge sales tax hike. The Tribune was so concerned about who spoke to who about the transportation issue when we've been advocating for the commissioners to consider a Plan B for a long time.

Ironically the Tribune's own editorial today Give cities transportation keys basically admits the crony Go Hillsborough county sales tax hike proposal will fail. So guess what they did? The Tribune editorialized for their Plan B - allow the City of Tampa to hold their own municipal referendum for a transportation sales tax hike.

A simple measure would defuse much of the conflict over local transportation tax proposals that frequently pit suburban areas against urban ones.

…the state should allow municipalities to hold a referendum on a transportation sales tax.

While the Tribune calls this a simple measure, the Eye reports today that may actually be ill-conceived:  City Transportation Tax is a Bad Idea

Will the county be protected from backstopping any city transportation boondoggles gone awry? 

Will this result in more transportation bureaucracy in Tampa, which now must coordinate with HART, MPO, TBARTA, TED/PLG, TMLA, THEA, planning commissions, FDOT, just to name a few?

The Tribune states the 2010 rail referendum passed in the city of Tampa. We'll clarify that statement. The 2010 rail referendum passed in the urban precincts of the city of Tampa mainly along where the rail corridors were planned.

2010 rail referendum vote results by Precinct

The Tribune conveniently left out that Greenlight Pinellas failed last year countywide in Pinellas and in St. Petersburg too.

Where's the Tribune reporters when you need them?

The Tribune can publish their Plan B and no one questions who the Tribune spoke to about their idea.

But others bring forth a Plan B and the Tribune is compelled to target them.

Setting the Record Straight

The Tribune finally has acknowledged there are those out there with alternative ideas for how to fund our roads and transportation needs. Thanks to Mike Salinero for his Tampa Tribune article yesterday titled Surprise Hillsborough transportation plan came straight from anti-tax advocates.

It's about time the Tribune start publicizing what we have been saying publicly for the last year and half.

The irony is Salinero and the Tribune are so in the tank for a sales tax hike they have refused to acknowledge any other funding options. Why should they have an issue with Commissioner Murman deciding it was beyond time to finally have that conversation?

Salinero never called Mark or myself about this article so of course he left out some important points.

Salinero does not acknowledge we have for years consistently and publicly been asking the county to re-prioritize our current budget to appropriately fund our roads. He does not acknowledge that we have consistently advocated and been on the record for additional funding options other than just the sale tax hike proposed by Go Hillsborough.

Salinero also does not acknowledge that we have been offering funding alternatives to an unnecessary sales tax hike long before Murman ever presented her alternative funding plan. The Eye posted Hillsborough PLG: Where is Plan B? on July 12, 2015. We also posted Here's a Plan B back on October 3. Mark handed the Plan B to ALL the county commissioners when he made a public comment about it at the October 7, 2015 county commission meeting.

We came up with a Plan B for free.

The county paid Parsons Brinckerhoff and politically well connected Beth Leytham $1.3 million taxpayer dollars. All they came up with was one proposed funding option, Parsons standard template - a run of the mill sales tax hike. Why? Because that was the answer Parsons/Leytham was expected to deliver since Parsons was awarded, via a no bid contract, a scope of work titled "Hillsborough County Transportation Referendum Support. We don't ever remember the Tribune or Salinero questioning this.

County awards Parsons Brinckerhoff a no bid contract for
work titled Hillsborough County Transportation Referendum Support

Even Salinero's Tribune pal Joe Henderson stated it is time for a Plan B, C, D, E, F….when both Joe and I were on Florida This Week back in September.

Salinero's public records request apparently did not go back far enough or target all the right people.  He missed the unsolicited call I received from former county commissioner Mark Sharpe in early 2014 asking for our input on the transportation initiative. It was Sharpe who got us formally involved in the transportation issue long ago.

As citizens, we all have the right to contact our elected officials, meet with them and speak to them about important issues. I regularly advocate for citizens to contact our county commissioners, talk to them and establish a relationship with them. That's how our participatory form of government is supposed to work.

We know the special interests and politically well connected meet and speak with the commissioners all the time. We all now know about the politically well connected PR lobbyist Beth Leytham's influence. She's the one that got caught orchestrating behind the scenes outside of Sunshine and with NO transparency at the same time she was receiving hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

The fact is everything we have advocated for is very public knowledge. We have not been paid a dime and have never asked for anything in return. We are simply concerned citizens voicing our opinions.

Is Salinero and the Tribune trying to make the transportation issue about who spoke to who? Then Salinero should get all the phone records of the pro sales tax hike transit advocates and special interests who have contacted any of the commissioners over the last 2 years on the transportation issue.

While he's at it Salinero should get all the phone records and text messages between Beth Leytham and any county commissioner or Mike Merrill. We anxiously await that report.

Salinero had the courtesy to call Ken Roberts and Tom Rask for this article. Next time Salinero wants to write about me he should call me first so he can get his story straight.