GoHillsborough Tries to Deep 6 their Poll Details So What Else Are They Hiding?

Brouhaha was created last year in the media regarding Greenlight Pinellas polls. The media and others were quick to ask questions regarding the details behind those polls.  

Taxpayer funded GoHillsborough conducted polling too. However, they were refusing to release ANY of the poll details, including who conducted the poll. Any brouhaha created over that?

The state of Florida has Statute 119, our Sunshine Laws, which states:

119.01 General state policy on public records.—(1) It is the policy of this state that all state, county, and municipal records are open for personal inspection and copying by any person. Providing access to public records is a duty of each agency.

Polling, focus groups and market analysis activities were all done as part of the taxpayer funded million dollar GoHillsborough public outreach campaign. Hillsborough County paid for those activities conducted by the transportation consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff and their PR consultant Beth Leytham. According to Florida Statute 119, the public has a right to have access to or copies of those records associated with these activities.

Why did GoHillsborough and the County refuse to release poll details for 2.5 months after the information was originally requested April 26? Why did they wait until AFTER the recommendation was made by Parsons and County Administrator Mike Merrill at the June 11 PLG meeting for a new 30 year $3.5 Billion sales tax increase June 11 PLG meeting to release the poll details?

My subsequent requests submitted directly to GoHillsborough and a formal public records request submitted to the county in May yielded nothing. I wanted this information PRIOR to the June 11 PLG meeting where Parsons and County Administrator Merrill would be presenting their funding recommendations. However, I was told by the county the poll details does not exist.

How could that be? I have copies of the invoices from Parsons Brinckerhoff and Beth Leytham for these activities that the county was paying for. Does the county normally pay for activities they have no information about? 

I finally received a copy of the poll detail information from the county on July 10th when PR consultant Beth Leytham finally ponied it up after Mike Deeson of WTSP Channel 10 also requested the information. Two and a half months laters I get the information I requested in April. There is nothing in FL Statute 119 stating that only certain privileged groups of people can make public records request. Citizen requests for information should be treated the same as any request made by the media.

Why isn't the poll details published transparently on the GoHillsborough website?

It is astonishing that Merrill did not provide the PLG members the poll details before the June 11 meeting. It is also astonishing no county commissioner questioned the details behind the poll or asked for the detailed information (since they obviously did not have it). 

Merrill and Parsons referenced the poll at the June 11 PLG meeting to support their recommendation for a new huge 30 year sales tax increase. However, they never even referenced who conducted the poll. Even the packet Parsons handed out to the PLG members with some of the poll results (no demographics) did not reference who conducted the poll. 

If the PLG and the county commissioner are being asked to make multi-billion dollar decisions, shouldn't they have been provided all this information? 

Since no one else is ensuring the public has the GoHillsborough poll information, I have posted the poll details I received here, here, here and here. 

First, who conducted the GoHillsborough Poll? Fredericks Polls out of Arlington, VA. Last year they conducted polls for Mayor Buckhorn and many other Democrats. They also conducted a post election poll on Greenlight Pinellas. We do not know who paid for that poll. 

It was Parsons Brinckerhoff's PR consultant, Beth Leytham, who was also Mayor Buckhorn's campaign PR consultant last year, who engaged Fredericks Polls to do the GoHillsborough poll.

Poll demographics:
600 likely voters with a margin of error of 4%

70% reached by landline, 30% reached by cell phone

Party affiliation: 43% Democrats, 34% Republicans, 23% Independents (assume NPA's, Other)

Reside: 27% city of Tampa, 73% rest of Hillsborough (we don't know how dispersed throughout the rest of Hillsborough)

Gender: 51% Men, 49% Women

Ages: 18-29 10%, 30-39 10%, 40-49 14%, 50-59 24%, 60-64 11%, 65+ 28%

African-American: 13.8%

Key Information from the poll

Most important issue

• #1 - Traffic congestion at 34% (of course this was an effort focused on transportation)
• #2 - Jobs & Economy at 19%
• #3 - Education at 16%
• #4 - Crime at 12%,
• #5 - Too much growth/development at 11%
• #6 - High taxes at 3%

Local taxes too high, just right or too low?

• Much too high – 20%
• Somewhat too high – 25%
• Just right – 50%
• Too low – 3%, rest did not answer

If 45% think taxes are too high and 50% think they are just right, then 95% of those polled do not want to pay higher taxes. Only 3% think taxes too low and want to pay more.

How did the poll reflect this data? Disingenuously. They reported 45% think taxes are too high and 53% think taxes are just right or too low and that was the result provided to the PLG on June 11. 

This should be a big red flag: the trust issue and the need to do a better job spending money we already have. Note: This information was NOT included in the packet Parsons provided to the PLG on June 11.

We cannot trust politicians to spend money on transportation problems as they promise – they will divert the money as they did the CIT:  69% agree with 42% strongly agree

County collects enough already – no need to raise taxes – do better job of spending money we already have:  69% agree

Support or Oppose new money for transportation:

½ cent sales tax increase: 53% support vs 45% oppose 

Gas tax increase: 80% oppose, 18% support 

Increase property tax $6 per month for every $100K of home value36% support, 61% oppose 

Note: we have a dedicated property tax millage for HART (our transit agency), Schools, the Port Authority, Libraries, the Children's Board, Stormwater, Environmental (ELAPP) but no dedicated millage for the largest and most utilized assets the county has – our roads. Roads historically were funded out of general property revenues until the last recession. Today no property taxes go to roads. However HART gets about $38 million of local property taxes, most of it from the county.

One-cent sales tax increase: 41% support, 57% oppose

Possible ballot question 

A possible Ballot Question to fund a comprehensive transportation and traffic congestion relief plan for all of Hillsborough County and its cities that would: fix and resurface roads; builds new roads; widen existing roads and streets; upgrade bus transit; improve bike and pedestrian safety'; and start planning for a light rail commuter line (had to include....why they want a 30 year tax...)

The only options that could be selected were:
Vote FOR ½ cent sales tax: 52%
Vote AGAINST sales tax increase and keep funding as is: 45%

What does "keep funding as is" mean? Does it mean no tax increase so prioritize the budget and fund transportation through existing revenues or does it mean literally leave our roads as is - unfunded?

Same question but vote FOR raise property tax: 37%

Vote against and keep funding as is: 60%

Same question but vote FOR one-cent sales tax: 43%

Vote AGAINST and keep funding as is: 55%

If developers pay more for transportation, more likely to vote for tax increase: 75% agree

Note:  Impact fees can be addressed separately by the commissioners themselves and are not dependent on passing a new sales tax.

The poll makes a statement that Hillsborough county has the 11^th worse traffic in the country. They give no citation for where the statement comes from – not good nor professional. 

That statement is absolutely FALSE!  We previously looked up US traffic congestion information at Inrix.com and the Texas Transportation Institute, both do traffic congestion studies and research. The cities they state having the worst congestion in the US:  NYC, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Honolulu, DC, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Miami. In Florida, we know Ft. Lauderdale has worse traffic congestion than Hillsborough, Orlando may also. The average commute time in Hillsborough is right at the national average of less than 30 minutes.

If we don't increase our sales tax, it means cutting other services to keep roads and bus service from further deteriorating: 57% agree

Who fully understands where our current tax dollars are being spent today? Lots of tax dollars are being spent on much lower priority items such as soccer complexes, parks, cultural centers and community centers. Those are nice but nowhere near the priority of funding our roads and transportation. In addition, tens of millions of tax dollars are being spent on nebulous economic development projects, some of which is benefiting special interests and cronies.If the tax sunsets in 30 years, more likely to support: 20% more likely, 72% not change vote

They never ask about any other tax sunset except for 30 years – very disingenuous. They should have also asked about support for a 10 year tax that could be re-authorized if voters and taxpayers see value for where the money is spent. One would think a different sunset timeframe would be asked after we have already experienced the 30 year CIT tax blown out within 11 years.

After hearing all this information, support a tax increase for a comprehensive transportation plan: 52% support, 43% oppose

This poll data is quite schizophrenic and with a margin of error of 4%, there is a good chance there is NOT a majority of these likely voters who support a 30 year sales tax increase.

When the public becomes better educated on where our existing tax dollars are being spent and understand the county can start funding our roads and transportation NOW without any referendum, there may be even less desire for a new 30 year sales tax hike.

We hope the PLG members have looked at all the poll details. If they are making decisions about supporting a new 30 year $3.5 Billion sales tax increase with this information, they better beware and prepare for a Plan B. Doing nothing is not an option.

GoHillsborough is a taxpayer funded initiative. Per Florida Statute 119 the public has a right to access and get copies of documents pertaining to the taxpayer funded activities they are conducting. GoHillsborough and the county should be complying immediately with requests for such information regardless of who requests the information. That should be a real brouhaha.

What else is GoHillsborough hiding?

Polk County Transit Blames Service Cuts on Referendum Defeat But They Knew It Was A Hard Sell To Begin With

For whatever reason, Polk County has had three transit agencies serving their county: Lakeland Area Mass Transit, Winter Haven Area Transit and Polk County Transit. Each of these transit agencies had been operating independently.

In 2010 Polk County put a half cent transit only sales tax referendum on the ballot. It was overwhelmingly defeated 68 to 32%. 

Since then, an effort has been underway to merge these three transit agencies into a single agency, Polk County Transit, to save money and gain efficiencies. They've already merged some activities such as consolidation of the Transit Call Center.

At the same time this merger activity was occurring to reduce costs, Polk County decided to put another sales tax referendum on the ballot last year asking for more money for transit. Shouldn't the merger and consolidation be completed first before asking taxpayers for more money? This time around they threw in a carrot of some roads with the transit and asked for a full cent sales tax increase. 

Roads was not the issue in Polk County. The commute time is about 25 minutes, right at the national average. Unlike Hillsborough County that is proliferated with failing, deficient roads, Polk has few F-rated roads. Polk County has already maxed out the use of the local option gas tax.

The 2014 MyRide referendum went down in a worse defeat than the 2010 referendum, 72 to 28%.

Now the Lakeland Ledger is reporting that there will be service cuts and personnel cuts to transit in Polk County. The Polk County transit Executive Director, Tom Philips, stated in this article:

The service reduction is the result of the failure of the My Ride/My Road sales tax referendum in November and the need to fund ongoing bus fleet replacements, Phillips said.

We remember that Mr. Phillips was being praised at one of the Hillsborough Policy Leadership Group meetings for all the public engagement and outreach he did for the referendum. Phillips was also brought to a HART board meeting to present his outreach effort.

However, Phillips and Polk County transit knew exactly what they faced at the ballot box. They took a poll in 2013, included the poll on their MyRide website, and this is what they found:

Polk County 2013 transit poll

The highest priorities were jobs and education. Only 4.3 % felt that bus and transit service had gotten worse over the last few years. Note that Polk County is a growing county whose population grew over 24% since 2000.

Some more information from their 2013 transit poll:

Polk County 2013 transit poll

Over 87% had not used transit in Polk County in the last two years and less than 18% thought it a high priority to expand and improve bus and transit service in Polk County. The  question asking the best way to provide additional funding for transit improvements should have been a warning to the transit agency about asking for a sales tax increase. Over 44% stated additional funding should come from rider fares and less than 15% said additional funding should from a higher sales tax.

With polling such as this, they knew they had a huge hill to climb to convince Polk County voters and taxpayers to pay higher taxes for transit, even throwing in some road money too.

Perhaps those polled knew more information than the transit agency thought. According to the 2012 National Transit Database, transit fare box recovery is very low in Polk County:

Certainly Polk County Transit can do better than only recovering 11% of their operating costs through their fare box. Hillsborough's transit agency, recovers twice as much at the fare box, Increasing the fare box recovery reduces the amount of taxpayer subsidies needed to operate. 

Polk County transit knew going in to last years referendum they were going to have a hard time selling the voters and taxpayers to pass it. Now they are stating they are cutting service.

Is Polk County doing anything to increase their fare box recovery? Those polled thought raising fares was the best way to provide additional transit funding. Will Polk County raise their transit fares that could perhaps mitigate their service cuts? Has Polk County done all their due diligence to ensure they are operating as efficiently as they can?

The overwhelming defeats of all the referendums in the Tampa Bay area to raise sales tax for transit, and the insight to voter sentiment in the 2013 Polk County transit poll, make a strong statement.

That is - voters are not going to vote to raise taxes on themselves for things they do not consider a high priority, may never use, do not see value in, is very high cost and would benefit very few.
  
And that sentiment can also apply to sports stadiums, baseball stadiums and other lower priorities.

Poll Shows Solid Opposition to Greenlight Pinellas

The results of a July 22nd poll done by St. Pete Polls on Greenlight Pinellas has been released. This poll was taken of 764 registered Pinellas voters, who voted in 2010 and 2012, and has a margin of error of 3.5%.

The poll results reflect solid opposition against the Greenlight Pinellas sales tax referendum, for which most of the money would go to build a light rail from downtown St. Petersburg to downtown Clearwater.

The proposed train in Pinellas may already be falling off its tracks.

Greenlight Pinellas falling off its tracks

Over 55% of those polled would vote NO if the referendum were held today. Over 68% are opposed to having the highest sales tax in the state as well as 78% polled oppose if it will cost households over $4000.

St Pete Polls results on Greenlight Pinellas

St Pete Polls results on Greenlight Pinellas

The poll data results can be found here.

We are not surprised to see increasing opposition to Greenlight Pinellas. It is apparent that many taxpayers in Pinellas do not want the highest sales tax in the state. They also must see little, if any, benefit from the permanent 14% sales tax increase that raises taxes $100 million a year into perpetuity to build a light rail they won't ride.

Taxpayer funded PSTA is spending about a million taxpayer dollars to "educate" the public. The pro rail PAC, Yes for Greenlight aka Friends of Greenlight, has already raised almost $600K to advocate for the train. 

Ironically this poll, like some others, indicates the more voters and taxpayers get "educated" about the referendum, the more they oppose it. But it's hard to sell a bad product and Greenlight Pinellas is a lousy product. 

Voters in Pinellas are figuring it out:  Rail costs too much, does too little and benefits too few.

What this poll reflects is that Greenlight's pro rail "deep pockets" may be winning special interests and their accommodating elected officials, but the grassroots NoTaxForTracks Pinellas "shallow pockets" campaign is winning the voters.    

Looks like Deja Vu circa 2010.