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Webster's Train Deal Plays Loose With Florida's Tax Dollars

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 24, 2008

Most everyone wants to see Orlando develop a proposed commuter-rail system that would ease congestion in Central Florida. There's just one hitch: Taxpayers want the best possible deal for the hundreds of millions of dollars the state wants to spend.

And when considering last-minute changes to the deal that will cost between $450 and $650 million, lawmakers should heed the warning of former Gov. Jeb Bush, who left office saying Florida overpays for land.

In the Florida Senate today, Majority Leader Daniel Webster is expected to lead the charge for an amended deal that would pay CSX Transportation $450 million for 61 miles of freight track between Orlando and Poinciana. No longer would the deal require the railroad to use some of the money to make rail improvements in other parts of the state or build a transfer hub in Winter Haven, though it's not clear where the trains that would no longer be running through Orlando would go.

Webster is on the right track. The deal that Central Florida strikes with CSX should not force hundreds of trains into communities that had no say. And if Central Florida wants to spend its share of transportation dollars on commuter rail, that's its call.

That said, citizens still expect lawmakers to be good stewards of taxpayer money. Yet Webster, a Republican from Winter Garden, has grown so desperate to close the deal that he's sacrificed his once-conservative values.

To build support, Webster wants to raise taxes on people who lease rental cars in South Florida, give trial lawyers contingency fees of 40 percent in rail cases and extend the state's sovereign immunity - which limits claims against the state to $200,000 per occurrence - to a for-profit railroad.

Webster also wants the state to buy a $250 million insurance policy to ease CSX's concerns, even though claims against the state are limited to $200,000.

Most disheartening is the lack of good business sense in this deal.

For starters, the state commissioned two companies to determine the value of the railroad land. But both appraisals were performed at the height of the market and are more than two years old. Were Webster buying a house, his bank would require an appraisal no older than three months.

Even then, the appraisals valued the land at between $407 million and $420 million - well short of the $450 million that Webster would have taxpayers pay.

Furthermore, the appraisals were preliminary because of a number of outstanding issues. For example, the state plans to give CSX a perpetual easement on the tracks, which would clearly reduce the land's value.

Most concerning, however, is the knowledge that the Department of Transportation officials signed the CSX deal absent any expert knowledge of the land's value. They then signed a confidentiality agreement to keep the deal secret.

When the contract finally came to light, DOT told a different story than what it says today.

Initially, DOT said the 61 miles of track would cost just $150 million. The rest of the money, it said, would help the railroad improve a second track through West Central Florida, build a transfer hub in Winter Haven and fund track upgrades throughout the state.

Now, however, DOT says that document was wrong. It says the tracks have always been worth $450 million, but that tough negotiations got the railroad to spend its profit elsewhere in Florida.

Maybe so. Only those behind the closed doors would know.

Nevertheless, the numbers don't add up.

If the Legislature accepts the changes proposed by Webster, officials say the contract would have to be renegotiated - and that would be a good thing.

When ordering new appraisals, DOT should consider the concerns expressed by former Gov. Bush on his way out of office.

It happened at a Cabinet meeting. The state was asking to buy and preserve the Joshua Creek Conservation Area outside Orlando for $50 million. The owners had bought the property just seven months earlier - for $33 million.

Bush didn't believe the state's appraisal, which supported the transaction. He expressed frustration with its wrong-headed assumptions and officials unable to answer detailed questions.

The former governor asked the kind of questions that taxpayers expect.

Who will take his place today?

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