A vote of 6-1 by the Hillsborough County Commission on Feb. 19 opened up space to consider another referendum in November to regain the public support on a 1 cent sales surtax, which would fund transportation improvements throughout Tampa over the next 30 years.
In 2018, 57% of Hillsborough voters were in favor of the extra tax, which went into effect January 2019, due to the urgent need to correct what Tampa Bay Times Editorial Board said is “a chronically failing transportation system that threatens their safety, prosperity and quality of life.”
However, due to legal challenges presented by Commissioner Stacy White against the original referendum, no tax money has been used toward repairing any Hillsborough County transportation infrastructure.
“I just want to make sure that the public is aware, from a public policy perspective, what this plan is and is not,” White said, as reported by the Tampa Bay Times. “It is a mass transit plan for the urban core of this county. It is not a road plan for residents of rural and suburban Hillsborough County.”
The Tampa Bay Times reports that Executive Director of Metropolitan Planning Organization Beth Alden said that 100 bridges that are within Hillsborough County have major structural integrity loss, and lack of funding leaves the county with the ability to only repave main roads once every 28 years, which should be done every 17 years. Additionally, with the existing funds, they would only be able to fix two bridges a year, Alden said.
Commission Chairman Les Miller’s plan would only give a 44 cent return on the dollar spent toward the transportation surtax to those living in unincorporated areas of the county, White said.
Commissioners scheduled a public hearing on the proposal for Wednesday, April 1 at 6 p.m. where the board will look to move forward on saving the county from accumulating more transportation repair debt.
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