Commission Won't Use Tax Money To Promote ELAPP

Call it the phantom agenda item.

Hillsborough County commissioners were surprised Wednesday to see an agenda item calling for public dollars to be spent promoting a referendum to continue the county's conservation land-buying program.

Although most of the commissioners support the referendum, they stop at spending tax dollars promoting the measure.

"Let me say that in all the times I've sat here, I don't recall the time we used tax dollars to promote things," Commissioner Jim Norman said. "The thing I recall is when an issue is embraced by the community, then the community raises the money."

Commissioner Mark Sharpe asked County Administrator Pat Bean who came up with the item. Bean said the resolution seemed to pop up and nobody on her staff knew its origin.

"Somebody said, 'Do you realize it's on the agenda,'" Bean said after the meeting. "I still didn't know where it came from yesterday."

Bean said she finally found out that Wally Hill, the former deputy county administrator, had asked the county attorney to draw up the resolution.

Hill, who was laid off because of budget cuts, said Wednesday that public affairs officer Edith Stewart asked him whether the county could use informational materials and speakers to "educate" the public about the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program. The commission previously had authorized an in-house program to educate residents about the county mayor ballot initiative, which the commission opposed.

The county mayor initiative will not be on the ballot because of a successful legal challenge.

Hill said the commission misinterpreted the intent of the resolution.

"The intent was to allow staff time and informational materials to be prepared, which could include pamphlets and brochures that would explain the proposition and the reason the county advocates its approval," Hill said.

After it was clear, commissioners rejected the wording of the resolution. Bean advocated a program exactly like the one Hill had intended. The commission agreed to it.

"We can run stuff on HTV, we can have people go out and speak at any meetings," Bean said. "We will not pay any money to buy advertising on TV stations; we will not pay any money to put up billboards."

The referendum measure would allow the county to borrow up to $200 million through a bond issue. The program is funded through a maximum property tax assessment of 25 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value. That would equate to $50 annually for a home with an assessed value of $200,000 after any exemptions.

ELAPP, which has preserved 46,000 acres since it was passed by referendum in 1990, is scheduled to end in 2011.