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Blair Wants Port To Stop Collection Of Property Tax

News Channel 8 file photo (2006)

Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair, also a Tampa Port Authority board member, proposed eliminating the property tax the port uses to fund capital improvements.

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By TED JACKOVICS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2008

TAMPA - Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair, also a Tampa Port Authority board member, said Tuesday that he wants the port to consider eliminating the Hillsborough County property tax to save homeowners money and entice them to continue supporting a county property conservation program.

Eliminating the tax, which is set at 19.8 cents per $1,000 valuation, would save a property owner about $47 a year on a home valued at the county average of $237,000.

However, the port's property tax revenue this year provides $15.5 million for capital projects, about 19 percent of the port's $82 million in revenue.

The port authority board agreed to consider the pros and cons of reducing or eliminating the tax at its Aug. 19 monthly meeting.

If the tax were reduced or eliminated, the difference would have to be made up in the port's budget either through additional revenue from business growth, additional or higher fees for tenants and/or users, or a reduction of the capital improvements program budget.

Revenue from the property tax can be used only for capital improvements, not for operating expenses at the port.

"We have always intended to do whatever we can to reduce or eliminate the use of the property tax," port director Richard Wainio said. "To eliminate taxes ... has to be done carefully. The taxes are used to help development at the port and produce jobs."

Both Tampa's seaport and airport operate under authorities created by the state and both have the right to seek property tax revenue.

The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority has not collected local taxes since 1973, and relies primarily on user fees generated by airport businesses and airlines.

The Tampa Port Authority, with a smaller operation than the airport, has relied on the property tax to bolster its capital improvements. In recent years it has lowered the millage each year to keep tax revenue fairly level as the tax base has risen with the area's rise in property values.

In a contentious decision in 1997, the county tax collector began to collect property taxes on certain land owned by the port authority. The port's most-recent county tax bill was $635,000, meaning the port both collects and pays property taxes.

Blair's rationale would be to provide a break to taxpayers during the difficult economy and perhaps encourage voter approval to continue the county's Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program.

The ELAPP program, created two decades ago to buy land for conservation, is scheduled to end in 2011 unless extended by voters.

The county has purchased more than 46,000 acres under the program, and county commissioners are expected to decide today whether to ask voters in November to approve $200 million more for the environmental lands acquisition program.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at tjackovics@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7817.

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