Go On Offense and Take No Risk: Vote NO on AFT Tax Hike at Bottom of the Nov. Ballot

Go on offense Hillsborough County voters. 

Vote NO on the misleading and deceptive All for Transportation (AFT) $23 BILLION transit tax hike on the November ballot. 

Taxpayers must not find themselves in another precarious position where unlawful tax dollars are collected from them again.

Stop the abusive use of misleading tax hike ballot summary language for political gain! 

On October 10th, Circuit Court Judge Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe ruled the massive transit tax was misleading and confusing and therefore unlawful. She removed the tax hike referendum from the ballot.

The same feckless Tampa Centric 5 Democrat county commissioners who put the misleading and confusing AFT transit tax on the ballot voted to hire expensive outside lawyers to appeal Moe's ruling.  

Judge Moe has called a hearing for tomorrow, October 27th at 2:30pm. Oral arguments from both sides will be heard regarding the Plaintiff's Motion to Vacate the Automatic Stay Pending Appeal.

Moe's October 10th ruling came as hundreds of thousands of mail ballots had been sent out and voters were already voting. Voters were swamped with heavy local media coverage of the Judge's ruling with headlines declaring the Judge "rejects, nullifies, removes, blocks, throws off" the AFT transit tax referendum from the ballot.

The AFT tax hike referendum is now tainted. It is reasonable to believe that confidence in the integrity of the referendum election results is now in question. 

The County is telling voters to keep voting on the tainted AFT transit tax referendum that is still printed at the bottom of the November ballot.

So go on offense.

Take NO Risk ending up with another $600M refund mess like the 2018 illegal AFT tax hike. 

Vote NO on the All for Transportation (AFT) sales tax referendum at the bottom of the November ballot. 

As Their Constituents Struggle, Tampa Centric 5 Puts Inflationary $18 Billion AFT 2.0 Rail Tax Do-Over on November Ballot That Benefits Wealthy Special Interests Donor Base

It's On! 

The Tampa Centric 5 Democrat Hillsborough County commissioners put AFT 2.0 30 year ONE PERCENT (NOT ONE CENT) $18 BILLION rail tax do-over on the November ballot. 

Taxpayers have not been refunded one cent of the $562 MILLION of unlawfully collected 2018 AFT rail tax dollars. No problem, just put AFT 2.0 on the ballot.

The ONE public hearing (historically always 2 public hearings were held about sales tax referendums) last week was just a required checkbox in the process. Forty-four people made public comment at the hearing almost evenly split between 40 who opposed and 44 who supported. 

However, there were more people who opposed protesting the rail tax outside County Center before the hearing who did not make public comment.

Shameful! Hillsborough County Deceptive Transportation "Open Houses" Mislead the Public AGAIN To Push Another Massive Tax Hike Scam

Post by Dr. Jim Davison and Sharon Calvert

All taxpayers are being hit hard by raging inflation and skyrocketing gas prices. Hillsborough County has yet to refund one penny of the unlawfully collected $512 MILLION illegal All for Transportation tax back to the taxpayers.

Some Hillsborough County commissioners and County staff don't care. Those who want to raise taxes at this time are not compassionate people. 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and these commissioners want to unnecessarily burden Hillsborough county taxpayers with higher taxes. They want to unnecessarily burden struggling businesses with higher taxes.

Something Smells: AFT, Surrounded by Lawyers, Rammed Illegal Rail Tax Onto Ballot Creating Legal Mess Dumpster Fire, Tampa-Centric Five Pushes AFT Rail Tax 2.0

The public and voters of Hillsborough County must never forget that All for Transportation Transit (AFT) caused a dumpster fire legal mess. AFT's dumpster fire resulted in over a HALF A BILLION dollars being unlawfully collected from taxpayers. 

Deconstructing AFT finds the legal mess dumpster fire they created nefarious and foul smelling.

Taxpayers Owed Refund of Over $512 Million of Unlawful AFT Tax Monies As BOCC Pursues Putting AFT 2.0 On 2022 Ballot

Taxpayers in Hillsborough County have not received a refund, in any way, shape or form, of any of the unlawfully collected $512 Million All for Transportation (AFT) transit tax monies. The fact that taxpayers are owed over a half a billion dollars of AFT 1.0 monies is not stopping the Hillsborough commissioners from pursuing another transit tax hike.  

At the BOCC meeting on Wednesday, 5/5/2021, the Hillsborough County commissioners voted to begin activities for putting AFT 2.0 on the November 2022 ballot. 

"Just Trust Us": AFT 2.0 Rail Tax Throws Billions At Rudderless Transit Agency in Chaos

Transit agency HART currently has no leadership at the helm and is in a state of at least semi-chaos due to some poor judgement by its own governing board. But the Hillsborough County Commission keeps pursuing forcing taxpayers to simply "hand" the chaotic transit agency Billions of new AFT transit tax proceeds.

After the November 2018 election, newly elected Democrat County Commissioners Kimberly Overman and Mariella Smith replaced Republican Commissioners Sandy Murman and Stacy White on the governing Board of HART.

The new HART Board felt compelled to continue pursuing a new CEO….even after a lawsuit was filed in December 2018 legally challenging the All for Transportation (AFT) $16B transit tax.

Tax Hike Lawsuit Raises Serious Legal Issues That Must Be Resolved

Commissioner Stacy White filed a lawsuit in December against numerous defendants related to All for Transportation's $16 Billion transit tax hike charter amendment challenging the language used in the charter amendment. It is case #18-CA-011749.

AFT, some county commissioners and others who supported the tax hike have called the lawsuit ridiculous, a political stunt and "nonsense".

But their rhetoric may be the "nonsense".

Fund Transportation and No Tax Hike Is Needed!

Transportation planning and progress has been dysfunctional and elusive in Hillsborough County for over 20 years. After three failed sales tax initiatives, from the committee of 99 to to Moving Hillsborough Forward to GO Hillsborough, and multiple unfunded Long Range Transportation Plans from the Hillsborough MPO, the “Powers” that be may have finally faced reality and the future.

On Wednesday, June 6th the Hillsborough BOCC voted to send a future transportation revenue plan presented to them earlier this year to the county Citizen Advisory Committee for their consideration and advisement. The plan was initially presented by Dr James Davison to the Board on April 4, 2018.

Davison's plan consists of 5 separate revenue sources totaling $8.468 Billion, yes billion with a “B”, over the next 25 years. About $6.2 billion goes towards transportation, but the unique thing about this plan is that for its last 20 years there is no increase in your property tax millage or sales tax rate. There is a small increase of 1/4 percent in the sales tax for the first 6 years until 2026 and then the sales tax returns to its current 7%. There are “No New Taxes” for Hillsborough residents in the plan. 

Not only are there no new taxes, but more money is available for transportation/transit than in the recent GO Hillsborough plan

The entire plan revenues are shown below:

1. Mobility Fees on new development passed 2016: 2021-2045 - $600 Million 

2. Restructure current 10 year property tax BOCC Transportation Policy to 25 year program: 2020-2045 - $1.15 Billion 

3. Value Capture (tax increment financing, development rights, etc) along any premium transit line to leverage state and federal money: 2021-2045 - $1.0 Billion

4. County Transportation Sales Tax @ 1/4 percent: 20121-2045 - $3.01 Billion total

• $ 1.054 billion to HART
• $ 1.37 billion to HillsboroughCo
• $ 499 million to Tampa
• $ 41.1 million to Plant City
• $ 27.4 million to Temple Terrace

5. Renew CIT @ 1/4 percent instead of 1/2 cent currently levied:  2027-2046 - $2.708 Billion total **

• $ 894 Million to School Board
• $ 190 Million Affordable House
• $ 1.137 Billion Hillsborough Co.
• $ 414.3 Million to Tampa
• $ 34 Million to Plant City
• $ 22.8 Million to Temple Terrace

**Note: The CIT tax is a local infrastructure sales surtax enabled by FL 212.055. The statute currently only accommodates a 1/2 percent or 1 percent tax. The state legislature will need to amend the statute to support 1/4 percent or make it similar to the transportation sales surtax that can be any percentage up to one percent. We believe the state will accommodate when the county (or counties) request the change.

Dr Davison stated that over $2 billion would go to transit or almost 3 times what was being allocated with GO Hillsborough. Plus over $4 billion dollars to the county and cities to pay for repaving, bridge repair, sidewalks bicycle paths, increased road capacity and new technology. All within a shorter period of time and with no new taxes. At 1/4 percent, the renewed CIT will raise more money in 20 years then the present CIT did at 1/2 percent in its last 20 years and over $1 billion dollars more then in its first 20 years.

After Dr. Davison made the presentation to the BOCC on April 4th , Commissioner White requested that the plan be forwarded to the county Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC). County Administrator Mike Merrill requested that the administration “vet” the numbers before taking them to the CAC. 

Last month Dr Davison and Commissioner White met with Hillsborough County's Director of Finance, Bonnie Wise, Director of the Budget Tom Fesler and Chief County Economist Kevin Brickley in separate meetings. It was confirmed that the numbers and future estimates in the plan are accurate. Of course they were the county's own numbers to begin with.

Wednesday June 6th the BOCC unanimously voted 6-0 to send the plan on to the County CAC. Conspicuously, Commissioner Ken Hagan and County Administrator Mike Merrill, who keep pushing tax hike referendums, got up and left the room right before Dr. Davison was to speak Wednesday. Commissioner Hagan has a consistent behavior of rudely walking out of meetings when he does want not his vote recorded. Since Hagan is running again, he should be asked by voters/constituents if he supports the county seriously looking at this alternative funding plan. 

Davison stated there is still a lot of work to be done, but he is confident that this plan can be accomplished. “There is no reason to raise taxes when we have growth in our revenue streams going on like we are have in Hillsborough County”, he said. The key is funding priorities.

In addition, Davison could not explain why the MPO has not included “Value Capture” to pay for transit capital costs in the LRTPs like it did prior to 2000. Value capture includes recovering some of the property value gains to finance the transit project. The Trump Administration has stated they want to make federal transit grants conditional on value capture.

The Hillsborough County Citizens Advisory Committee meetings are held the 4^th Friday of every month at County Center. We anticipate numerous different groups will be there to weigh in on the matter and we will also be keeping an EYE on it.

We have often asked here at the EYE the same questions. Why has it taken so long to come up with a plan that together with revenues already committed over the next 25 years, will provide Hillsborough county over $17 billion dollars to improve roads, transit and mobility. All without increasing taxes. 

The county commissioners must seriously consider this plan and throw out any plans that would needlessly raise taxes. 

To be continued!

Stop Force Feeding A Regional Transit Authority on Tampa Bay Taxpayers

Regional bureaucracies an arms length away from voters and taxpayers are not more efficient, especially over time. They become less accountable and more powerful, arrogant, crony and wasteful.

We posted here about Latvala's Senate bill 1672 and its companion House bill 1243 that grows the size and scope of government, takes away local control and enables regional taxing. 

Both bills were presented to their first committee meetings this week and passed.

Senate Bill 1672 was presented Wednesday by Senator Latvala to the Senate Transportation Committee. The video is here and Latvala begins at about 1:01:45. Astonishingly at about 1:02:30 Latvala clearly states for TBARTA "to come back to the legislature next year for clarity on what statutes need to be changed to allow Tampa Bay's transit to become more efficient and grow".

So we have to pass the bill first creating this new regional TBARTA transit authority before we can find out how it is funded, who will pay for it and what is being funded? That sounds eerily familiar.

That is bad governance and not fair to the taxpayers.

We do know who wrote the bill for Senator Latvala. At 1:06:00 of the video where Latvala is making his closing statement he acknowledged Tampa Bay Partnership for putting together the bill and giving it to him to run with it. They were huge supporters of all the sales tax hike referendums in Tampa Bay that were defeated.

Latvala is term limited next year but we know he has wanted to merge HART and PSTA for years. His statement Wednesday confirms this bill is just the first of a multi-step process. We can only assume that the next step is to change statutes to enable TBARTA to become a taxing authority, enable regional taxes and/or merge HART and PSTA without having to go to the voters. Latvala said he would help with legislation to do just that in December 2012 because a regional transit authority is needed to get a train across the Howard Frankland bridge.

House Bill 1243 was presented by Representative Dan Raulerson on Tuesday to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The video of that committee meeting is here and this bill is the second one presented starting at about 4:00. 

Representative Raulerson is not a member of any transportation committee and is from Plant City, a municipality in the far eastern part of Hillsborough County. Plant City is not a member of HART, our local transit agency. Residents of Plant City do not pay HART's .5 mill property tax that the city of Tampa, city of Temple Terrace and unincorporated Hillsborough County residents pay to fund HART. 

It is odd that the sponsor of a bill to create a new Tampa Bay regional transit operating authority that must be funded lives in a municipality in Hillsborough County that does not fund and is not a member of it's own local transit agency. If Raulerson wants more transit, perhaps he should first start advocating for Plant City to be a member of HART.

An amendment was made reducing the number of non-electeds on the new 13 member TBARTA Board and adding two more electeds - the mayors of Tampa and St. Petersburg. We understand the change was done at the request of both mayors who support costly rail projects.

Of course, electeds want a majority of electeds to run everything.

They tell us that a majority of electeds on all these boards makes the boards more accountable….That reasoning can be questioned. 

PSTA is a transit agency whose Board consists of a majority of electeds and PSTA has been mismanaged for years. PSTA's Board never held PSTA's CEO Brad Miller accountable for misusing federal funds on Greenlight Pinellas. Instead PSTA's Board gave him accolades and a raise last year. How accountable is that? 

Latvala should be cleaning up the mismanaged PSTA in his own backyard. Other counties do not want to be burdened with Pinellas County's PSTA mess. 

The PTC was also created by the state and it's Board was all electeds. The PTC became totally crony, corrupt and archaic.

Raulerson stated they may consider adding a fifth county - Hernando - and that other continuous counties may also join. Like Manatee was included because of Galvano, we surmise Hernando may be part of the deal because the CSX corridor goes up that way. 

So if they add Citrus and Sarasota counties, the new TBARTA will be the same as the old TBARTA but with a different Board and only focused on transit. Makes one wonder about this whole effort because Citrus and Hernando counties share their MPO and Manatee and Sarasota counties share their MPO.

The biggest issue (or unknown) with this bill is money and funding. 

Ironically, the Summary Analysis of HB1243 done by staff states:

The bill does not appear to have a significant fiscal impact on state or local government

That is simply not true. That is not being honest with taxpayers. 

A new regional operating transit authority cannot be created and operated without long term funding. Not one representative questioned why the bill's summary analysis stated there was no fiscal impact when everyone knows the new entity has to be funded - somehow.

TBARTA does has the authority to issues bonds per Florida Statue 343.94. No investor will buy bonds that has no long term, sustainable revenue source to pay back the bondholders.

Raulerson was asked what revenue would pay back TBARTA bond financing. His answer was that revenue received from the bus service and light rail. Yes he said light rail…. (Almost all of the light rail boondoggles were pushed by regional transit agencies.) 

There is a huge math problem. Raulerson must know that because he's an accountant.

Transit projects have capital costs and operating costs associated with them. Which costs was he referring to? 

Farebox revenue could never cover required capital costs of large transit projects. Farebox revenue often only accounts for about 20% of the operating costs. Where's all the rest of the money coming from? No representative even asked.

The fact that all the sales tax hike referendums for transit in Tampa Bay have been overwhelmingly defeated was brought up at the committee meeting.

Raulerson stated the bill does not make TBARTA a taxing authority. But this bill may not have to specifically provide for that because Florida Statute 212.055 governing the transportation sales surtax was changed in 2010 to enable putting a regional sales tax for a regional transit authority on the ballot in multiple counties.

Latvala's bill goes right along with the $1.5 million Regional Premium Transit campaign that will identify regional transit projects to enter the pipeline for federal funds. This new TBARTA regional transit authority will be the entity to pursue those funds. 

However, federal funds for transit projects may be eliminated or greatly reduced under the Trump Administration so there should be no reliance on getting federal money. Pursuing any federal funds requires a local committed long term funding source. Where's the money?

We doubt the state legislature would create another SunRail fiscal disaster: 

…a recent study has found that the cost of SunRail to issue and collect tickets is greater than the revenue from ticket sales.

How more insane can things get? This insanity occurs when any sense of common sense is thrown out.

The bill was orchestrated by a local delegation of one - Senator Latvala - who hastily filed the bill the weekend before the session started. It was never vetted by TBARTA and did not go to any of the local delegations for input by any constituents impacted.

We have a regional transportation issue that needs to be addressed not a sudden regional transit issue requiring another transit authority to fund into perpetuity.

Instead of this bill, there should be laser focus on getting FDOT's TBX project implemented. That project fixes the Howard Frankland bridge, fixes the chokepoints at 60 and malfunction junction, adds much needed interstate capacity and creates a regional transit corridor. It is funded by user fees, state and federal gas taxes we already pay and tolls by those who individually decide to use the express lanes, not higher taxes. TBX does not require another bureaucracy to build, operate and manage.

Innovation and technology is already disrupting traditional transit as transit ridership is declining in Tampa Bay by double digits. With the federal spending spigot for new transit projects getting turned off or greatly reduced, common sense says the timing of this bill is not good.

Once a bureaucracy is in place and funded, it's almost impossible to get rid of it - just look at the PTC.

The irony of it all… This legislative session is finally getting rid of the unnecessary, crony, corrupt and out of control PTC created by the state legislature in 1976. And in the same session the state wants to create another unnecessary transit authority, an arms length from voters and taxpayers, that would have to be funded and we could never get rid of when it gets out of control.

Besides the elephant in the room - the issue of funding - there are lots of other issues with this bill. There are regulatory requirements regarding transit authorities. Who is looking at how this new regional transit authority would comply and how much it would cost now and in the future to comply?

I attended the TBARTA meeting Friday and for transparency, I spoke in opposition to this bill. TBARTA Chair Ronnie Duncan stated this bill was created and put forward without engaging TBARTA or its Board. The biggest issue the Board agreed on was funding - no one knows how this new transit authority is be funded. We have to assume it will be the taxpayers of Tampa Bay. In addition, TBARTA Executive Director Ray Chiarmonte brought up a host of other issues with this bill. 

This shows the haste of how this bill was introduced without proper vetting.

There is no outcry or demand by citizens and taxpayers of all these counties demanding this new transit authority be created. 

We hope the state will stop this force feeding of regionalism on the citizens of Tampa Bay that will lead to higher taxes, more wasteful spending, more influence by special interests and less accountability.

Instead, let's use common sense, fiscal responsibility and some foresight for where the future of transportation is going in the 21st century, not a new regional bureaucracy to bloat.  

HB1243 must go through the House General Accountability Committee (meets Wednesday) and Transportation and Tourism Appropriations Committee. SB1672 is in the Senate Community Affairs Committee (chaired by Senator Tom Lee, Senator Jeff Brandes is a member) and Appropriations Committee (chaired by Senator Jack Latvala, Senator Jeff Brandes is a member).

Help stop this bill forcing a regional transit authority on Tampa Bay taxpayers by contacting committee members at links above, your state legislators and leadership to voice opposition to SB1672 and HB1243:
State Representatives
State Senators
Speaker Corcoran
Senate President Negron
Senator Galvano (who will become Senate President next year and was the original champion for TBARTA in 2007)

Kill the Bill! Say No to Regionalism in Tampa Bay

Watch these two companion bills filed in this legislative session affecting transportation in Tampa Bay. SB1672 was filed by Senator Appropriations Chair Senator Latvala and it's identical House companion bill HB1243 was filed by Representative Dan Raulerson who is not a member of any transportation committee.

These bills re-swizzle and reorganize the Tampa Bay Regional TRANSPORTATION Authority (TBARTA) into the Tampa Bay Regional TRANSIT Authority. No wonder they were filed very late right before the session started last week. They provide the groundwork and foundation for regionalism, for a regional transit taxing authority, pursuit of a bigger pot of money and for taking away local control.

Who supports this change? Were there any surveys conducted of the voters and taxpayers in the counties impacted?  It certainly looks like this change is being pushed without consent of those actually impacted.

We posted about the push for regionalism in Tampa Bay by Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long and Senator Latvala here here and here. Special interests Tampa Bay Partnership also supports a regional transit authority according to this white paper they commissioned by the Eno Center for Transportation and this TBBJ article

The group [Tampa Bay Partnership] also recommends creating a regional transit authority with the ability to approve inter-local agreements in order to work across county lines.

Latvala's bill creates a new Tampa Bay regional transit operating authority by reorganizing TBARTA, changing its mission and how it is governed.

But we do not suddenly have transit issues across county lines, we have transportation issues across county lines that must be addressed.

Currently TBARTA provides TRANSPORTATION planning for seven counties (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, Citrus, Hernando and Sarasota) and operates a multi-county van pool service. At TBARTA's website, find their Regional Master Plan, their Transit-Oriented Development Resource Guide and information about their van pool and commuter services.

Latvala's bill changes TBARTA to a four county (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, and Manatee) regional transit operating authority. The governing board will change from 15 members to 13 members. The new Board would consist of:

• One county commissioner from each of the four counties 
• One member  representing HART 
• One member representing PSTA
• Two business community members appointed by the Senate President
• Two business community members appointed by the House Speaker
• Three business community members appointed by the Governor

These four counties are all very different. We can only assume Manatee was thrown in because Senator Galvano of Manatee championed the creation of TBARTA in 2007 and Latvala wants his support. Why would Pasco and Manatee's transit agencies not be represented and why are all the appointees from the business community not "citizen" appointees?

Today TBARTA is not a regional taxing authority but that was the intent when it was created back in 2007.  However, the recession hit in 2008 and no state legislator was going to vote for another taxing authority during a recession.

Statutorily TBARTA has the ability to bond for capital construction or improvements and does not have a dedicated funding source to operate anything. Today the state and participating counties have contributed funds for TBARTA to operate its commuter services and do planning.

It does not appear that Latvala's bill specifically enables TBARTA to become a taxing authority. Therefore, how would this new transit operating entity be funded? No entity can be an operating authority without dedicated funding.

In 2010 Florida Statute 212.055 addressing the transportation surtax was suddenly changed by our state legislature to include "regional transportation system" surtax not just charter county surtax. What is highlighted is what was added to that statute in 2010:

(1) CHARTER COUNTY AND REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM SURTAX.— (a) Each charter county that has adopted a charter, each county the government of which is consolidated with that of one or more municipalities, and each county that is within or under an interlocal agreement with a regional transportation or transit authority created under chapter 343 or chapter 349 may levy a discretionary sales surtax, subject to approval by a majority vote of the electorate of the county or by a charter amendment approved by a majority vote of the electorate of the county. (b) The rate shall be up to 1 percent.

It appears this statute can be used to put a multi-county regional tax on the ballot to fund a regional transit authority.

The timing of these bills conveniently coincide with the Tampa Bay Regional Premium Transit Plan campaign we posted about here. This $1.5 million taxpayer funded effort is supposed to result in transit projects to enter the federal FTA New Starts/Small Starts transit grant programs. But there's lots of unknowns and uncertainty about these federal funds with a new Trump Admin and a Republican Congress. In addition, the future of transportation is not costly rail systems.

The taxpayer funded public campaign to sell the transit projects will begin around September. The elephant in the room is that all the federal transit grant programs require a committed local long term funding source.

Where would the money come from?

From a multi-county regional tax to fund regional transit projects operated by the new TBARTA? Since Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco keep rejecting sales tax hikes, can we assume the next hat trick is to put a multi-county sales tax hike on the ballot?

From higher property tax rates? Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller is looking at raising HART's ad valorem property tax millage rate. What does he want to fund? Would any of those new property tax dollars go to this new TBARTA regional transit entity?

The question no one is answering is where's the funding for the new regional TBARTA operating entity coming from?

Note: In 2014, TBARTA passed a resolution to become a direct recipient for FTA federal funds. At the March 2015 TBARTA meeting the Eye attended, the 2015 Regional Master Plan was presented by Jacobs Engineering. The same Jacobs who did the Greenlight Pinellas boondoggle, was a subcontractor to Parsons Brinckerhoff on the Go Hillsborough debacle and is now working on the Regional Transit campaign. One thing Tampa Bay does very well is enrich the same transit consultants over and over and over.

But beware.

Michigan state legislature created the four county Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority (RTA) that includes Detroit in 2012. RTA used consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff and AEComm to create a regional transit plan (sound familiar). RTA put a 20 year, $4.6 Billion 1.2 mill tax proposal on the ballot last November and it was defeated.

While RTA was asking taxpayers for billions, the CEO of RTA Michael Ford claimed $37,000 in expenses, including airfare, luxury hotel rooms and out-of-town meals over 2½ years. Ford recently paid back $19,000 after the Detroit News submitted numerous public records requests and a review brought the expenses into the Sunshine. Where was the oversight?

In San Diego, SANDAG (San Diego Association of Governments), the entity that Commissioner Long modeled her proposed Tampa Bay Regional Council of Governments, put a half-cent 40 year sales tax hike on the ballot in November and it was defeated. (CA requires a 2/3 majority to pass)

Taxpayers are probably very glad it did not pass because now there's a big scandal. Apparently SANDAG was deceiving the voters and taxpayers about how much revenue would be generated to pay for all the projects promised and understated the costs of those projects. An independent investigation is being demanded.

And it is no surprise there were allegations that SANDAG was illegally using public money to promote the sales tax hike plan. We have seen those tactics used in Tampa Bay.

The five counties in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area representing the regional Counties Transit Improvement Board (CTIB) are discussing disbanding. CTIB, that levies a quarter cent sales tax and $20 vehicle excise tax, was created by the state legislature in 2008 by a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA). Each county would have to vote to dissolve the JPA to disband. Dakota County has already voted 6-1 to leave by 2019 because the county has received less funding from the coalition than it has paid in.  Creating a regional transit entity thru a JPA - Sound familiar?

BART is under the umbrella of the nine county Metropolitan Transportation Commission in San Francisco. BART's ridership is down while it's costs are increasing that may result in a $25-35 million operating shortfall this year. While BART has spent billions of dollars on expanding transit, they neglected to put money aside for much needed maintenance.

BART put a $3.5 BILLION three county bond measure (debt) on the ballot last November that would use a property tax assessment to pay back the debt to pay for the neglected maintenance. It was approved with overwhelming support from San Francisco of course. But here is a scathing editorial from East Bay Times against the measure (click on the links in the article):

The ballot wording conveniently omits that the district would tax property owners for 48 years to pay off the debt.

These massive transit referendums use deception, dishonesty and half-truths to ram massive tax hikes through. We saw the same dishonesty and half-truths with Go Hillsborough, Greenlight Pinellas and the 2010 Moving Hillsborough Forward rail tax.

The bigger the bureaucracy the more money they want creating a bigger food fight over a bigger pot of money, how it is spent, who gets to pay and who gets the benefit.

The bigger the bureaucracy the more influence special interests will have and the less influence local voters and taxpayers will have. Regionalism makes it harder to oppose these huge regional tax hikes for costly boondoggles as deep pocketed special interest groups launch multi-million dollar regional advocacy campaigns.

The bigger the bureaucracy the greater the problem is for less accountability, less transparency and less oversight. 

The bigger the bureaucracy the greater the opportunity for corruption and cronyism. 

Look at the recent contract scandal with South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) that operates Tri-Rail. Governor Scott wants the controversial contract rescinded. State Senator Jeff Brandes raised his concerns. State senator George Gainer filed bill SB1118 that would strip Tri-Rail of state funding unless its board rescinds a controversial $511 million contract, and it requires state approval of future contracts. Note: all Florida taxpayers bail out Tri-Rail every year with tens of millions of state tax dollars.

Bigger regional bureaucracies just get bigger, more arrogant and more powerful especially over time.

Regionalizing decision making has led to increased taxes and more government spending everywhere it is implemented.

Our elected officials in Tampa Bay already work together across county lines. We do not need a new regional transit operating entity for them to do so. They need to do their jobs, not give up local control.

Tampa Bay does not need a regional transit bureaucracy placed an arms length from voters and taxpayers.  

We need more honest and more accountable government that better utilizes our existing growing revenues on our highest priorities not ploys to fund bigger government entities.

We need better government not bigger government. 

The senate bill may muster through with Latvala's arm twisting, but we hope the House bill goes nowhere and dies under Speaker Corcoran.

Time to Kill these Bills Now!

Rationale to Push Regionalism Disappeared November 8th: Dump Long's Regionalism Proposal

We previously posted here and here about Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long's push for regionalism, the merger of HART and PSTA and using PSTA as a proxy to accomplish that agenda.

We updated our last post to highlight that the direction of Long's Regional Vision she presented at the January 13 PSTA workshop is to regionally control a big huge new pot of tax dollars:
REGIONAL SALES TAX FUNDING PLUS THE EXISTING LOCAL JURISDICTIONAL [PROPERTY TAX] FUNDING.

Pinellas County Commission Long's Regional Vision

Trump was elected because voters want to stop the over reach of government, which is at every level of government, and return power back to the People where it belongs.

What Commissioner Long is pushing is the exact opposite. What Long, PSTA's Brad Miller, the Tampa Bay Times and their cohorts want is to take power away from the people and regionalize decision making.

Regionalizing decision making is being done in coordination with the Obama Administration's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Affordable Housing regulations. The Obama Administration forced the AFFH regulations on all localities receiving HUD funding in July 2015, obligating them to compare their demographics to the region as a whole, nullifying municipal boundaries. 

Long presented her Regional Council of Governments Cronies proposal in October at a joint meeting of HART and PSTA. The chart below reflects the broad areas of focus her regional decision making agency would control, including all their pots of money.

Chart from Commissioner Long's presentation
at the joint HART/PSTA meeting in October

Long's focus areas fit right into the Obama Administration's over reaching AFFH regulations and the MPO merger regulations pushed through AFTER the November election. Both of those regulations force regionalism and regional decision making upon us all without ever going through any deliberative, legislative process.

Taxpayer funded use of local resources to start implementing the over reaching AFFH regulations has started. HUD has provided their "regional" data and maps to begin the regional implementation.

Transit plays a part of the AFFH regulations with HUD provided data related to disparities in access to transportation as this presentation reflects.

HUD provides their data to locally
comply with AFFH regulations

The election in November was about de-centralizing government power and decision making and pushing power back to the People where it belongs. Long's proposal to take away local control, regionalize power, take away local decision making and influence, enable greater special interests/lobbyists influence and push for regional sales tax funding goes in the exact opposite direction.

Long used the last minute MPO merger rule, pushed through by the Obama Administration on December 20th and Obama's AFFH regulations to rationalize her regionalism agenda.

It is obvious that a real goal of Long's regional proposal is to pursue a new multi-county regional sales tax hike to pay for her regional agenda.

Perhaps last October Democrat Long envisioned Hillary, who would have simply continued Obama's policies, would win in November.

The reality now is that a new Trump Administration and a Republican Congress will be rolling back and eliminating many over reaching burdensome federal regulations.

The reality now is there's a very good probability Obama's tyrannical AFFH regulations and the last minute MPO merger rules are going away.

So what Republican elected officials in Tampa Bay are going to support Democrat Long's proposal that supports Obama's regionalism agenda?

Time to Dump Long's proposal because her rationale excuse for pushing her regionalism agenda disappeared on November 8th.

A Victory for Taxpayers - Now County Center Must Commit to Making Board Policy Work

The Eye was at the county commission Transportation Workshop last Wednesday. The video of that meeting can be found on the HTV website by selecting the meeting date August 10, 2016. Everyone should watch it. 

The Workshop was opened for public comment. All but one of the citizens who spoke were supporting Commissioner Murman's proposal for an ordinance to use our growth revenues within our existing budget to fund our roads and transportation.

It has taken years to get here, but finally the county commissioners voted 6-1 (Miller voted no) to pursue a Board policy requiring 1/3 of our new revenue growth to be put aside to fund our roads and transportation. The Board policy language will be brought to the September 8th BOCC meeting for approval. 

While Murman's proposal will be accomplished through a board policy and not an ordinance, this is a seismic shift from where we were a year ago. 

This is a victory for the taxpayers of Hillsborough County.

After Hagan fought the effort with Merrill (watch the video), he ended up voting for the motion. We will watch closely to see if there's an attempt to obstruct the intent of the policy or water it down when the policy is up for Board approval September 8th.

The eventual 6-1 vote is not representative of the discussion that actually occurred at the meeting. Hagan's mocking comments did him no favors but they are recorded for all to see.

County Administrator Mike Merrill brought in the big guns, the county's financial advisor and bond counsel, to provide their comments on Murman's proposal. 

Budget Director Tom Fesler presented an analysis on 10 years of revenue growth, analysis of 1/3 of new revenue growth going to transportation and 10 years of funding analysis. The budget analysis was done based on numerous factors including estimated population growth, estimated inflation rate and estimated growth rate. 

The presentation was flawed, however, as Commissioner Murman pointed out Merrill had left out 20% of the revenues in the analysis. Somehow the Times failed to report that tidbit.

This is the first time we've ever seen such level of analysis during the budget cycle. Unfortunately, too many budgets recommended by Merrill have simply been rubber stamped, no questions asked.

We're a growing county and their doom and gloom attitude towards funding transportation within our existing growing budget was quite astonishing. More astonishing when we continue to watch Merrill pull tens of millions of dollars out of his rabbit's hat to spend on all kinds of other things. 

This behavior is no longer acceptable!

The meeting showcased that County Administrator Mike Merrill and Commissioner Hagan do not want to prioritize our county's budget. 

Neither does the Tampa Bay Times. According to their Sunday Op-Ed, prioritizing our county budget is an "empty gesture".

The county is not creating a new revenue stream for transportation; it's merely raiding money already there.

Their attitude is absurd and out of touch with reality and the electorate today. 

The Tampa Bay Times would better serve their readers if they started questioning the county budget. There are a number of questionable oddities including ghost projects being financed by debt and budgeting for capital projects with no known operating costs. These oddities go against any normal budget process we know and is not good governance. 

The Times should look at past budgets of a decade ago or more ago. They prove that the commissioners will re-align spending to higher priorities, including towards funding our roads and transportation. 

The county commissioners are elected to make tough decisions not rubber stamp unelected bureaucrat Merrill's budget recommendations. If the commissioners can't, won't or refuse to make tough budget decisions that the rest of us must do everyday, they need to find another job.

As we posted previously, 69% of those polled last year during the Go Hillsborough campaign stated the county needs to do a better job spending what we already have. 

How is that done? By prioritizing the budget to fund our highest priorities FIRST.

If the county cannot prioritize it's spending, there's no limit to the expansion of local government and no limit to what the county will spend OUR tax dollars on. 

If the county cannot prioritize its spending, then the county is telling the taxpayers that everything must be a priority. 

No one believes that. 

But we get it. Merrill, Hagan and the Tampa Bay Times want a new baseball stadium and costly trains. They know the county will have to pick our pockets more to get them.

The county was forced to prioritize our budget during the recession. The services that the county cut the most was our transportation funding. They diverted all property taxes that historically always funded our roads to other things when the recession hit. 

However the county refused to re-appropriate those dollars back to transportation as our revenues began going up and up and up.

When forced to, the county had to prioritize. When our revenues are healthily increasing, suddenly the county cannot prioritize. What hogwash!

Requests were repeatedly made by citizens during the budget process over the last few years for the county to fund our roads and transportation. Those requests fell on deaf ears. 

Why? 

Because the tax hike and spenders down at County Center, Mayor Buckhorn, their cronies and special interest backers and our local media (Tampa Bay Times) want another sales tax hike referendum.

According to this recent Tampa Bay Business Journal article, Mayor Buckhorn, wants to get behind a citizen petition led referendum to force a sales tax hike get on the 2018 ballot. 

Buckhorn also stated this in the TBBJ article:

“I would think that if [St. Pete] Mayor [Rick] Kriseman and I had the ability to do that within the municipalities that we could pass it and we could fund the beginnings of a transportation system, particularly rail, that would link downtown St. Pete to downtown Tampa and the airport,” Buckhorn said.

We'd like to see the financial viability of that business case. 

Buckhorn, the mayor of downtown Tampa only, is now living in the twilight zone.

Remember it was Buckhorn on the Tampa City Council back in the 1990's who was the lone NO vote on the Tampa Streetcar. He said it did not have a long term viable business model. And he was right.  

CIT revenues are another local funding source for transportation capital projects. 

Those who continue fretting and lamenting that the county cannot prioritize our budget to fund our roads and transportation know that the CIT tax will come up for reauthorization between now and 2026 when it expires.

It was the county who blew out the entire CIT future revenues for unincorporated Hillsborough. Who recommended doing that in 2007? Commissioner Hagan and then county Finance guy Mike Merrill. 

Talk about actually raiding and financially constraining future county commission boards….Where was the Times back then? Crickets……

That is why we doubt taxpayers will stomach another 30 year tax and believe there should be no attempt to extend the CIT for longer than 10 years. 

The MPO estimates that extending the CIT out to 2040 (14 years), using a 3.58% growth rate, unincorporated Hillsborough would receive over $1.7 BILLION of new revenues. If the CIT was extended for 10 years, the county would probably receive over $1.5 BILLION.

MPO's CIT revenue estimates if extended
from MPO's 2040 LRTP

Before the CIT comes up for reauthorization, the county must prove they are being good stewards of the money they already receive. Trust must be earned back. 

Prioritizing our budget is how to get that done.

This move by the commissioners to fund our roads and transportation FIRST before spending our tax dollars on pork projects, lower priority items, unnecessary spending, subsidizing special interests and wealthy sports team owners is a step in the right direction.

We would have preferred an ordinance but when this Board policy is approved, the commissioners will be put on notice that we will now watch the budget process like a hawk.

The policies of obstruction and failing to start addressing our transportation issue must come to an end. 

Because most importantly, the commissioners must have someone at County Center who is committed to making the Board policy work.

Crossposted with permission from Jim Bleyer, Tampa Bay Beat

Experts: Transportation Sales Tax Funds a Road to Nowhere

Promoting local sales tax increases for transit projects will always be a losing struggle in Florida, a group of transportation strategists agreed this week.

They attributed voter mistrust of government as the insurmountable barrier to referendum-based tax hikes. That unequivocal assessment were expressed at a funding symposium during the 2016 Transportation Summit at St. Pete Beach.

It puts an exclamation point on the word “no,” the message voters in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties have emphatically delivered to their local governments three times in the past six years. The most recent fail occurred in April and June when Hillsborough commissioners voted against even putting a sales tax increase on the ballot after a grass roots uproar.

The fear and misinformation tactics used by proponents, including the far less than unbiased Tampa Bay Times, were contemptible.

It’s bad news for not only the tax-addicted Times but also for the cabal of politicos in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties whose narrow vision cannot see beyond the use of regressive sales taxes to pay off their corporate sponsors. In Pinellas, County Commissioner Ken Welch leads the sales tax charge. In Hillsborough, County Commissioner Ken Hagan and Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn are the prime movers.

All know the agony of defeat: Hillsborough voters soundly rejected a mass transit proposal in 2010 that would have boosted the sales tax hy 58-42 percent. The Greenlight Pinellas tax increase for transit, promoted by all the usual suspects, got thrashed, 62-38.

The symposium experts said such sales tax increases will forever be DOA in the best of circumstamces. Both Greenlight Pinellas and Go Hillsborough were tainted by shady dealings involving bureaucratic functionaries: Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority CEO Brad Miller and Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill.

The centerpiece of both transit plans was a light rail system that would have paid off bond attorneys, wealthy land barons, realtors, engineering firms, and other entrenched business interests.

Neighboring counties haven’t been suckers so far. Polk County voters smothered a sales tax for roads 72-28 percent in 2014. The mettle of Manatee County voters will be tested in November when they will be asked to extend a half-cent schools sales tax and implement an “infrastructure” tax for the same amount.

The roundtable discussion was moderated by Ed Regan, senior vice president of CDM Smith, a multinational engineering and construction firm. The Tampa Bay Times was aware of the symposium and whether it was staffed or not, no article has appeared in the Times digital edition 30 hours after the event.

The summit was hosted by Floridians for Better Transportation in partnership with the Transportation and Expressway Authority Membership of Florida. One of the corporate sponsors was Parsons Brinckerhoff, the multinational engineering firm that stood to eventually haul in as much as a quarter billion dollars if Go Hillsborough passed.

A Reader's thoughts on Mass Transit and light rail

We as a community need to think not only about one year from now but 5, 10, 20 years from now! – CV

St. Petersburg, Fl
Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD
Author: In Search of Robin

Transportation continues to be a major issue in the Tampa Bay Area. There have been multiple failed efforts to convince the public to tax itself for the development of transportation initiatives.

Here is an e-mail from a reader with a different view:

    Read your post on the "Patch." My thought is that I would be willing to pay an extra 1% in sales tax to bring another form of mass transit to the area. I believe that it would benefit the local citizens by creating jobs, eventually relieving vehicle traffic, helping seniors get around (which provides a better mental health for the aging), it would create media attention to the area

which can be a boost to local marketing and advertising therefore stimulating the economy, and finally providing tourists with a way to see areas that they may not have if they just took a taxi from the airport to their final destination (again, a possible benefit to local businesses!

    Let's say I spend $100 a week in purchases that are taxable. That means that i would be paying an extra $1 to help the local economy in a big way. Is that really that big of a burden for me?.... Absolutely not and I think that if the "Train" initiative was presented as only costing a $1 a week, (which is probably double what most people spend in taxable purchases, remember "real" food isn't taxed) that the vote would be to pass an increase in county tax!

    All that people such as yourself seem to blog about is how these things are going to cost YOU and your like minded individuals. I ask that you take the time to think about and write about both sides of the argument. Think about how your $1 could actually help others! We as a community need to think not only about 1 year from now but 5, 10, 20 years from now! The last I heard, more people are moving into Florida than out of it. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my opinion!

CV - Clearwater

You make a very good point.

The problem all along has been the bay area people behind light rail are mostly developers and real estate people. Their principal objective has been to use publicly funded light rail to start transit-oriented redevelopment of Pinellas County.

You only have to look at the meandering route of the failed GreenLight Pinellas effort to see this approach at work. The entire GreenLight effort focused on creating new centers of development and not on improving public transportation.

There was also no significant GreenLight effort to resolve the "last mile" issue.

This approach rarely works in the US.

If we had a serious transit plan that solved the "last mile" problem and put light rail where it would be effective I agree that the public would support it.

The CSX tracks offer a significant opportunity, but the "last mile" problem is huge in the CSX scenario.

E-mail Doc at mail to: dr.gwebb@yahoo.com or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to Like or share on Facebook.

See Doc's Photo Gallery at Bay Post Photos.

Disclosures:

Contributor: Bob Gualtieri for Pinellas County Sheriff, Carlos Beruff for US Senate