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Iorio's Avenue of Arts dead-ends at council

Artist's rendering

The Tampa Museum of Art, now under construction, will anchor a developing arts district in downtown Tampa.

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE

cwade@tampatrib.com

Published: September 10, 2009

Updated: 09/10/2009 08:48 am

TAMPA - Mayor Pam Iorio's Avenue of Arts has fallen to the budget ax.

The city council voted unanimously Wednesday night to cut $2 million in proposed funding for the downtown redevelopment project, which would have turned Zack Street into an artsy, two-way, pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare leading to the city's waterfront.

Instead, the Community Investment Tax money will be diverted to the city's parks and recreation department for citywide improvements during the upcoming fiscal year.

"Tampa needs to put that money into pools, parks and neighborhoods," said Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena, a previous supporter of the redevelopment project.

The project, long considered a top priority for Iorio, was put on hold about two years ago when a Florida Supreme Court ruling halted the use of redevelopment money without prior voter approval. The city resurrected plans for the project earlier this year.

City officials pleaded with the council Wednesday night not to cut funding for the project.

"Zack Street is more than just arts," said Bonnie Wise, the city's director of finance.

Mark Huey, the city's economic and development administrator, said downtown business owners were counting on the project to create a pedestrian-friendly corridor linking the Franklin Street business district to the waterfront, guiding visitors to the soon-to-be completed Glazer Children's Museum, Tampa Museum of Art and Curtis Hixon Park.

"We're building an economic engine along the waterfront," Huey said. "If we don't connect them, it won't work."

But council members were unmoved.

"The children and the parks need that money more than Zack Street," Councilman John Dingfelder said.

The unexpected move came after the council gave a tentative nod to Iorio's proposed $754 million budget for fiscal year 2010, which includes no property tax increase for city residents and no pay raises for city employees, administrators or the mayor herself.

With little discussion, the council voted unanimously to accept Iorio's spending package, which represents a nearly 10 percent reduction from the 2009 budget of $836 million.

"We are really in difficult times," council Chairman Tom Scott said at the public hearing, the first of two before the budget goes into effect Oct. 1. "It's a tough year, tough budget."

Tampa's property tax rate will remain unchanged for a third fiscal year

Under that rate, the owner of a house assessed at $200,000, with the standard $50,000 homestead exemption, would pay about $860 in city taxes. City property owners also pay Hillsborough County schools, water management district and other local taxes.

To plug a $51 million budget shortfall, the city will use $31 million in reserves and not offer pay raises next year.

A second public hearing on the budget will be held Sept. 23.

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (813) 259-7679.

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