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Regional Transit Panel Frets Over Sales Tax Increase Idea

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 27, 2008

TAMPA - The future of a regional transit system in West Central Florida could depend on the answer to this question: What comes first, the plan or the funding?

Members of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority are working on what's sure to be an expensive plan to knit the region together with transit. One of the most likely sources of funding is a half-penny sales tax increase in each of the seven counties.

Getting that kind of dedicated local funding would help pave the way for federal funding but also would require state legislative action and approval from the region's voters.

That could be a hard sell, members agreed at a Friday meeting.

"We can't take this to the voters right now," said board member Norma Patterson, a Sarasota County commissioner.

"People are having trouble paying their mortgages."

"I'm having heart palpitations about a sales tax increase in Manatee," said Donna Hayes, a Manatee County commissioner and TBARTA board member.

"It's just not going to fly."

Mayor Pam Iorio, who wants to put the sales tax issue before Hillsborough County voters in 2010, said getting funding will require having a workable plan to show voters.

She favors a plan that calls for trains from New Tampa to Tampa International Airport with stops at the University of South Florida and downtown, and from the airport to Linebaugh Avenue.

"They'll vote for it if they see a plan," the mayor said. "Right now, all we have is $2 million in dubious funding."

TBARTA was created by the state Legislature and relies on the Tampa Bay Partnership, a public-private consortium, for much of its current financing.

This year, legislators gave the authority a one-time infusion of $2 million that board members hope to use to entice a director and hire an attorney.

Legislators gave TBARTA the power to borrow money, levy tolls and condemn land, but no ability to levy taxes to raise money for its operations.

By statute, the agency must have a plan in place by July 2009, but it's working to finish it by the end of this year.

Further complicating voter approval of a dedicated sales tax for transit is that only three counties in the state-chartered group - Hillsborough, Pinellas and Sarasota - have the authority to even put a tax increase question on the ballot.

In other business, the board agreed to move forward with interviews for candidates for the group's first executive director, who will be paid $150,000 a year with benefits.

A big part of the director's job will be convincing voters to support to plan.

"We need someone to get out there and sell this to the public," Patterson said.

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or cwade@tampatrib.com.

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