TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Letters To The Editor

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 26, 2008

Suggestion Has Merit

Regarding "Jim Norman's Disappointing Focus" (Our Opinion, Feb. 20):

How sad. The cowardice of the Trib's editorial board has become the norm. You print half-truths and insinuations and hide behind anonymity. You insult Norman for suggesting that the extracurricular work at Raymond James Stadium be divided equally. How dare he suggest such a thing?

Is this a hit piece done to aid your buddy, the Tampa Sports Authority director, or the honest and benevolent Tampa fire union? They whine about brotherhood only when it benefits them. They have taken advantage of their county brothers and sisters before and probably will again. Maybe the feds should know a little more about how their deal works.

KELLY HALLMAN

Tampa

Think Beyond The City

It is a sad commentary that The Tampa Tribune, whose circulation extends beyond Tampa proper, has sided with a special-interest group before learning all aspects of the issue.

Commissioner Jim Norman did not wake up one morning and decide to bring equity of service to the TSA. There have been several attempts in the past to afford Hillsborough County Fire Rescue personnel the opportunity to work some of these off-duty positions, only to be dismissed with fallacious logic provided by the monopolizing Tampa Fire Rescue. Apparently the legitimacy of their argument only holds true for fire rescue departments.

On any given Sunday it is not uncommon to see the Tampa Police Department, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and Florida Highway Patrol working an event at the stadium without issue. Let us not forget that the stadium was built from the Community Investment Tax, not the Tampa Investment Tax.

JAY O'DRISCOLL

Lutz

Try Common Sense

It's time for some of the board members to set politics and personal aspirations aside and use a little common sense.
Raymond James Stadium is inside Tampa city limits. Tampa Fire Rescue provides daily 24-hour/7-days-a-week fire and emergency medical services protection for the stadium.

If one of the TSA employees has an EMS emergency today, who's responding to the emergency? Tampa Fire Rescue, not Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.

Why should HCFR be allowed to pick and choose where and when they want to respond to EMS emergencies? TFR doesn't pick and choose; they respond to any and all emergencies in the city of Tampa. Raymond James is in the city of Tampa.

BRIAN SMITHEY

Tampa

Bad Way To Save Money

Regarding your editorial on Jim Norman's disappointing focus, I write to say that he had another disappointing - and frankly quite disturbing - suggestion on how to save money at a recent budget workshop. He suggested the county cut safety services in the rural area, such as fire and police.

There has been what developers call a NIMBY uprising of late to protect what is left of our rural areas from sprawl in this county. I suspect that Norman was firing a shot at the rural residents fighting so hard to preserve our communities by threatening to cut our services.

After all of his years of "service," the best suggestion he can offer is decreasing fire and police? I was encouraged that your editorial said he is nearing a term limit. This county has been saddled with him long enough.

KELLY CORNELIUS

Lithia

Cut Across The Board

After viewing the Hillsborough County BOCC Budget Workshop on Feb. 13, I was not surprised to see Commissioner Norman's suggestions for dealing with the decline in tax revenue due to the passage of Amendment 1. His suggestion to cut the level of service in the rural area is typical of his disdain for those of us who choose a rural lifestyle. Due to uncontrolled development, most of the rural areas that remain are very close to the Urban Service Area. We don't want sidewalks in the rural area - they're a little too rough on our horses' hooves. We do want, and expect, a certain level of service from our emergency services; we pay taxes, too.

I would suggest a budget cut across the board for every county department. Whatever savings a department can make within a year should be reserved for that department to use as needed without the threat of a future budget reduction.

PAM CLOUSTON

Lithia

Chart Indicates A Rise

Regarding "4.5% Slide Expected In County's Tax Base Value" (front page, Feb. 21):

I was chagrined to see the chart on the changing tax base. The implication is that the tax base has declined radically below the 2000 level. In reality, although technically correct, the graph is extremely misleading.

Based on the figures quoted in the article, the tax base rose 20 percent in 2006 and is expected to decline only 4.5 percent this year. Utilizing only those two pieces of information, the tax base rose over 14 percent when these two years are combined. Guesstimating from the graph, it appears the tax base rose 10 percent in 2007. Thus, a 20 percent increase in 2006, a 10 percent increase in 2007 and a 4.5 percent decrease in 2008 means that over the three-year period 2006 through 2008, the tax base rose a total of 26.06 percent. The chart implies the tax base has declined below 2000 levels.

SUSAN LONG

Tampa

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT