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Hillsborough Seeks Changes To State Mandate Laws

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By MIKE SALINERO

msalinero@tampatrib.com

Published: December 3, 2008

PLANT CITY - With little likelihood of getting state money next year for local projects, Hillsborough County commissioners instead asked legislators Tuesday to end state mandates that tie local governments' hands.

Commissioner Jim Norman, one of four commissioners who attended the meeting of the Hillsborough County Legislative Delegation, asked the legislators to change laws that prohibit local governments from rebating certain taxes. Norman wants to rebate money saved on road projects that are coming in lower than engineers' cost estimates.

"If a road comes in $20 million under cost ... the way the gas tax works, there's no way to send the money back," Norman said.

Norman also asked the lawmakers to make the Friendship Trail Bridge between Hillsborough and Pinellas counties a state park if the two counties agreed to restore the bridge's structural integrity. Norman's request would make the state responsible for the bridge's upkeep after it's fixed.

Engineers recently closed the middle section of the bridge, used by bikers, skaters and fishermen, because concrete was chipping off into the water. Repairs are estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars.

County Administrator Pat Bean asked for legal changes that would allow the county to use private land for recreation programs if the landowner agrees to put a protective easement on the property. Bean said the county needs open fields to use for youth athletics.

"We might be able to use some property if somebody doesn't want to sell it and we don't have the money right then," Bean said.

At least one state representative, Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said he's willing to "take the chains" off county governments, as long as it doesn't involve shifting costs back to the state.

Weatherford asked Bean and the commissioners to come up with a list of 10 state mandates that could be jettisoned.

The legislative delegation consists of four state senators and 12 state representatives whose districts include part of Hillsborough County.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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