By LINDA CHION KENNEY
The road to fixing traffic problems in Hillsborough County took a pit stop last week at The Regent in Riverview, where members from both the Riverview and Brandon chambers of commerce met to discuss transportation issues.
The Oct. 18 meeting came five days after the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners voted 5-2 to appeal a judge’s ruling to toss the Hillsborough County Transportation Surtax Referendum from the November ballot.
Ruling its language was vague and misleading, the judge dealt a blow to the latest attempt to use referendum money to address mounting transportation needs in the county.
Pending further action, the county’s vote to appeal has put the injunction on hold, which means voters in early ballots and at the booth Election Day on Nov. 8 can vote on the surtax referendum. It calls for a 1 percent sales tax surcharge for 30 years to address transportation issues. Voting against the appeal were commissioners Stacy White and Ken Hagan.
This year’s referendum is almost identical to the 2018 “All For Transportation” referendum that passed but was later ruled unconstitutional after a lawsuit filed by commissioner White argued that citizens, acting through a nonprofit organization, could not dictate how tax money is spent. State leaders have yet to decide what to do with the approximately $550 million raised from that tax.
The latest court ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed by Karen Cox Jaroch of Northdale, the Gulf states regional coordinator for Heritage Action for America, the advocacy arm for the Heritage Foundation, a right-of-center think tank.
Addressing these and other issues at the Oct. 18 meeting, Hillsborough commissioner Gwen Myers focused her comments on the surtax referendum, painting a bleak picture of what she said would result should the measure fail.
“When we talk about our infrastructure, I want to make it real clear, we do not have a source of revenue to fund our infrastructure projects,” Myers said. “If you’re in long lines now, and this [referendum] doesn’t pass, you don’t need to call us because we already know the story. We don’t have the funding.”
Myers called the surtax “an investment in our community” and argued that the referendum itself, “a third-grader” could understand.
Brandon chamber’s Matt Lettelleir, left, with Adelee Marie Le Grand, CEO of the Hillsborough Transit Authority (HART); Greg Slater, CEO of the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority; and Chris Jadick, director of communications for the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority (TBARTA).
The referendum as written calls the question: “Should transportation improvements be funded throughout Hillsborough County, including Tampa, Plant City, Temple Terrace, Brandon, Riverview, Carrollwood and Town ‘n’ Country, including projects that would build and widen roads, fix roads and bridges, expand public transit options, fix potholes, enhance bus services, improve intersections and make walking and biking safer.”
Counter to Myer’s assessment, Jaroch reportedly argued in her lawsuit that in noting specific transportation improvements to be realized, the language is misleading because these “are promises the county cannot keep.”
Meanwhile, other items were discussed at the Oct. 18 transportation meeting, where Riverview and Brandon chamber members heard as well from Ed Turanchik, about the upcoming south shore ferry that aims to transport MacDill Air Force Base employees to work in Tampa, which he said would take 2,000 cars off local roads.
Matt Lettelleir, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Brandon chamber, introduced and led the questioning of three panel attendees, including Adelee Marie Le Grand, CEO of the Hillsborough Transit Authority (HART) and Greg Slater, CEO of the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority. Also on stage was Chris Jadick, director of communications for the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority (TBARTA).
Le Grand, who started her job in January, was asked to discuss what’s next for HART should the transportation surtax fail.
“The community really deserves to have better service than what we have today,” Le Grand said. “Two-thirds of our routes have frequencies of 60 minutes, [which means riders] have a schedule, but they know if you miss your bus it’s going to take 60 minutes for the next one. That is not reliable service; it’s not good for the community, but that’s what we can afford to offer.”
Slater, who started his job in February, is a planner by trade and hails from Maryland, where he said he was responsible “for all things transportation,” including highways and tollways; light rail, heavy rail metro; core buses; the Port of Baltimore and BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport. Slater oversaw 4,000 employees and a $17.7 billion budget.
Slater discussed the growth of the Tampa Bay region, noting that its population is expected to swell by 400,000 to 500,000 residents by 2045.
“At the same time, our planning horizon is transportation is completely changing,” Slater said. He noted in years past, a 20-year window could account for how people plan to travel to and from work and other transportation matters. That window today is five years, Slater said.
Jadick addressed TBARTA’s stance as an embattled agency in legislative matters. “Our basic challenge is we have not been able to find a regional voice,” Jadick said. “The region does not speak with one voice when it comes to these transportation initiatives, so it’s hard for the governor’s office to get behind an initiative such as TBARTA when the region itself is fractured.”
TBART represents the interests of Hillsborough, Hernando, Manatee, Pasco and Pinellas counties, and its purpose is to plan, develop, fund, implement and operate a regional transit system in the area.
