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Panel Questions Money Request

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By LAURA KINSLER

lkinsler@tampatrib.com

Published: February 19, 2009

DADE CITY - The city's Redevelopment Advisory Committee still isn't sold on City Manager Billy Poe's plans for renovating City Hall.

Poe wants to use community redevelopment dollars to give the nearly 90-year-old building a much-needed facelift. The city has built up about $1 million in its redevelopment account, and that money has to be spent within the downtown district.

Poe wants the city commission, which also serves as the Community Redevelopment Agency, to allocate between $250,000 and $300,000 for City Hall. Before the issue comes to the commissioners, however, it must first win the endorsement of the redevelopment committee.

Several committee members said the redevelopment money should be spent on projects that benefit the businesses that pay into the fund through the property taxes. City Hall is tax-exempt.

"I've always been told that it can't be used for repairs to government-owned buildings," committee member Nancy Johnson said Tuesday.
City Attorney Karla Owens said the expenditure would be perfectly legal, as long as Pasco County doesn't object. The building is in such a state of disrepair, it creates blight in downtown Dade City, she said.

Poe wants to replace the cracked stucco and leaky windows, repair the roof, paint the building and demolish the old city jail addition.

Committee member Mike Agnello said he'd like to see a little "quid pro quo" from the city before he agrees to the city hall project. Johnson agreed, saying that downtown merchants are required to pay a 25 percent match when they receive facade grants.

"I personally feel like we should require the city to meet the same requirements as the merchants who do pay taxes," she said.

Johnson also questioned what happened to $100,000 that was appropriated several years ago to pressure wash and repair the building. Owens said the city had to spend the money to replace a broken fire escape and to upgrade the building's elevator.

Chairwoman Jean Ward asked Poe to meet with the committee before it votes on the request. The committee unanimously approved several redevelopment projects for the downtown district, among them a plan to install decorative streetlights along Seventh Street.

Tampa Electric lighting specialist Lee Isham told the committee that construction likely wouldn't start until late summer and could take up to eight months.

The committee also plans to recommend spending redevelopment dollars to repair historic brick walkways in a city-owned parking lot and for improvements to a frequently used alleyway.

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 779-4617.

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