Photo credit: Anderson Mancini @Flickr.com

I have to give Commission Mark Sharpe credit for promoting alternative transportation options.  On it's face, rail sounds like a good idea, but take a closer look at how our county currently operates and how we got here in the first place and that rail vision starts to blur.

Hillsborough County Commissioners put the county in the hole over $11,000 with every new rooftop they approve because they don't charge adequate impact fees to developers. These figures came out in this 2007 report from the Planning Commission. As a result we are billions behind for things like roads.

What to do? They know! Ask us to tax ourselves to help pay for roads via a 1% sales tax for "rail" (of which only 37% really goes to rail). As my recent post pointed out we wouldn't be in this mess had this and past boards made growth pay for itself instead of shifting the burden to taxpayers to subsidize their developer welfare. Now they want even more of a bailout.

On the heels of their rail discussion Wednesday, Commissioners had the chance to discuss the audit on impact fees (which are charged to developers to pay for transportation, parks, schools and fire). The audit was performed by the County Clerks's office and presented to Commissioners during their afternoon meeting. Some of the audit's findings include:

Observation 1: The BOCC has not been assured that the impact fees were spent as directed by ordinance 96-29.

Observation 2: The current impact fee assessment for transportation, right of way, parks, and fire networks may not be covering a reasonable percentage of the cost of growth within the County.

But wait, there's more:

Finding 1: The costs to administer the program are not fully funded by the impact fees.

Finding 3: Impact fees were incorrectly calculated and assessed.

Finding 4: Revenue from receipt of permitting fees could be lost or misappropriated.

To summarize, not only do they not charge enough to cover growth (or even the impact fee program itself), some of the money could be lost or misappropriated! If you attended or watched the meeting you wouldn't know this because they didn't even discuss it.

Earth to Commissioners....................come in Commissioners?.............No response.

Not a single peep regarding impact fees, they just voted to accept the report without any discussion at all. You would think they might try to use the opportunity to right past wrongs and help sell us on that rail referendum with something about making growth pay for itself and being a good partner to the community. The same community they now want to foot the bill for rail (and failing roads).  If they are not going to do their part and stop the developer welfare, why should we sign up for more taxes? If they are not going to change their past expensive sprawl inducing ways why should we get stuck paying for a train with every purchase we make?

Don't be fooled by the inexpensive sounding sales pitch of just a penny tax either..............this is a 1% sales tax but it adds up to a 14% tax increase from 7% to 8% which would make Hillsborough the county with the highest sales tax in the state.

They make good points that we have to do something but let's make sure the vision isn't worse than the current situation. If they are not willing to give us a good growth plan, not willing to  increase impact fees to developers to make growth pay for itself, and if they think it is ok to use part of the tax to pay for roads that are already scheduled to be widened by developers, this is shaping up to be an easy N-O for voters.

Judging by their actions (since there were not any actual comments from Commissioners on the subject of impact fees ....item B-4 on the agenda) Commissioners seemed to say that they are fine with the costly growth practices of the past by avoiding this conversation on impact fees altogether. They all sure seemed happy to join in the discussion about how to tax us for transportation in a referendum though. In contrast, they sat mute while voting to receive the impact fee audit. What better timing than after the referendum to talk about how to avoid past sins like not charging developers their fair share? Yeah, right. Looks like it's the same as it ever was down at County Center. Not sure why I was surprised considering their recent handling of taxpayer dollars.

They voted 5-2 to move forward with a referendum to ask us to tax ourselves for transportation. Too bad they couldn't do it right and clean up their own back yard first before asking us to pony up more funds. The first step is admitting past mistakes. Call us when you get there Commissioners. Until then I am keeping all my pennies.

I do have to give Commissioner Kevin Beckner credit for questioning the developer road projects associated with the proposed rail referendum. County staff member, Lucia Garsys, was not convincing as she tried to assure him they would still be responsible for their part.

Rail proponents did have some help as the Mayor of  Charlotte was in town this week to cheer lead for their rail effort (I wonder who paid for that?) Problem is he exposed another not so pretty secret about rail -

"rail and more buses won't ease congestion in the Tampa Bay region. It shouldn't be sold that way, he said. Rather, it should marketed as an option to people who want to avoid congestion."

Not on their side is this recent article showing HART has decreased ridership (a good portion of the proposed tax is for buses) and the CEO of  HART just announced he wants a raise (because $174,700 isn't enough?) Not good timing but hey, at least he didn't just give himself a raise without asking! Then there this recent article showing how taxpayers get screwed for Amtrak.

I issued a challenge to rail proponents in this post asking them to give us a plan we can support and even offered some simple suggestions but after suffering through their discussion on it Wednesday morning, I have little hope that it will occur. Good luck on this tax referendum Commissioners, you're gonna need it.

Don't worry, the whole meeting wasn't a bust, they did approve a golf cart path in Sun City so residents could get to their new Walmart (at a cost of $300,000). I only hope they don't get HDR to design the thing for them. And speaking of Walmarts (and costly approvals with NO discussion) they approved $36,245.94 for engineering services on the Consent Agenda (Item A-47) for an intersection on Lithia Pinecrest in part possibly for a new Walmart! This evidently increased the existing contract from 1,401,566.70 to $1,437,812.64!  I wonder if the residents in that area even know about it? And the Chair of the Cone Ranch committee gave Commissioners an update. Bottom line is after five meetings they don't actually have a recommendation yet as to how to protect Cone Ranch. Don't forget Cone ranch is already preserved and publicly owned. Yep, same as it ever was down at County Center.