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Fee's Demise Feeds Taxpayers' Growing Defiance

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By TOM JACKSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 25, 2008

Well, now. What to make of the decision in Port Richey to whack out a venerable, if unpopular, source of income for the little city's operations? Has the majority not heard about the - oh, what is that phrase? ah, here it is - "crushing budget deficit brought about by falling property values and Amendment 1"?

Or are the three who kept a campaign vow to kill the city's onerous utility fee deaf to the inevitable wails and breast-beating that accompany every threat to the delivery of government services?

We vote for No. 2, adding an admiring nod for the majority trio's shrewdness and unabashed chutzpah.

Daunted in their attempt to have Port Richey's borders dissolved and the city's services absorbed by the county, members of the disbanded activist group seem determined to achieve their objective through backdoor methods. Shedding the utility tax may be nothing more than Step 1.

After all, the effort to repeal Port Richey's incorporation papers was fueled by an appetite for fewer, lower taxes. But if voters said they preferred to keep the city as a city, they were less adamant about maintaining the tax structure necessary to feed the gamut of municipal perks.
Vice Mayor Mark Hashim, a leader of the dissolution forces, seems ready to drive a thinly disguised 18-wheeler through that loophole. As a triumphant Hashim said Tuesday, "This is just the beginning. We're going to do it."

His specific reference was to shrinking Port Richey's tax burden, but the implication is the same.

Joy In A Big-Box World

Without the utility surcharge, Port Richey will have to find a way to close a $264,000 budget gap. Hashim and Co. - cost-cutting newcomers Perry Bean and Phil Abts - won't bridge it with new or higher taxes, and a sudden economic boom is unlikely. The most likely solution: enlisting the county to assume/absorb a current city function, much as Dade City did a few years ago when it replaced its fire rescue service with Pasco's.

The majority would have to replicate the process only a handful of times, ending a franchise fee here, ceding a city duty to the county there, to arrive at the dissolutionists' destination without violating voters' wishes about maintaining Port Richey's separate and unique identity.

We know, we know. We read the same analysis. The average Port Richey utility user will save only about $13 a month from the fee's demise. At what cost to the average resident's quality of life? As Steve Sarnoff, president of a union representing two dozen city workers told the Tribune's Christian Wade, "The largest beneficiary will be Wal-Mart. But the city will suffer."

The cheap shot at America's favorite retailer and largest private employer notwithstanding, Sarnoff's claim lacks a track record. Having preceded Port Richey down its likely path, Dade City hasn't raised any complaints about the county's emergency services.

Wider Implications

Port Richey's move evokes additional suppositions exciting to supporters of limited government and simplified taxes. From the smallest municipality to a super majority across the fourth-largest state, folks are suddenly stubborn about strangling the public sector's money supply, whether the result is $13 a month or $115 a year.

Sliver by sliver, taxpayers are insisting on keeping what they earned, relenting - as in the case of the Penny for Pasco - only when they get to regulate the tax they pay.

The implications - for statewide elimination of property taxes in favor of a higher state sales tax, for a proper hearing for a national sales tax replacing all other federal taxes - are staggering.

Not a bad summer's work for the little city by the river. Way to go, Port Richey.

Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.

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