Commissioner Murman quoted in this StPetersBlog article on public workshops on transit:

Hillsborough County officials announce schedule for public workshops on transit

By Mitch Perry on February 5, 2015

Hillsborough County officials today unveiled a slick new website called GoHillsborough that contains information regarding their upcoming public outreach efforts on transit issues in the county.

The Policy Leadership Group, consisting of the Board of Hillsborough County Commissioners and the mayors of Tampa, Plant City and Temple Terrace, has been meeting for nearly two years now on trying to figure out how to address the most pressing needs regarding public transportation in the county, with an eye on putting a referendum on the 2016 ballot to pay for them. The County says that it currently has $750 million in backlogs on repaving needs, sidewalk and safety projects across the county, and according to the website, “this is not even considering widening or building roads, the needs of the cities, or improving transit. ”

Officials have been keen to emphasize that they want the public’s input, and why wouldn’t they? The public has overwhelmingly rejected the past two transit tax measures put on the ballot in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties over the past four years.

“GO Hillsborough is about truly understanding our transportation needs and desires at a grassroots level, exploring what makes sense in our residents’ daily lives and then helping them make what we all know will be some important and likely tough choices,” said Sandra Murman, chair of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners. “In the end, I feel confident that we will have a meaningful, supportable transportation strategy that will serve our families, our businesses and organizations, and our broad community well.”

There will be 36 meetings in all for the public to weigh in on where they believe the county should devote its resources when addressing the vast transportation needs.

The first public meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb.17, at the Mt. Olive A.M.E. Church 1902 West La Salle Street, Tampa. The final physical meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, at the Trinkle Center in Plant City. But there will be one last telephone town hall taking place two nights later, on Thursday, May 21.

The first 13 meetings are listed under the title of, “Understanding Issues.” The next five meetings are listed as, “Exploring Options.” The next 13 meetings are “Making Choices,” and the last five are titled,” Finding Consensus.” Citizens can RSVP to attend a workshop. They can also post comments on the website.

Organizers are aware that the last 5 meetings where they are to find consensus could be contentious. The website says:

We are going to face difficult – sometimes conflicting – opinions and choices about our transportation system. We will keep the focus on you, and the important decisions in your life: public safety, family and community values. We will also discuss whether and how we continue to leverage our transportation investment to support job creation and protect our standard of living.

Although County officials and Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn had been saying throughout 2014 that they were aiming towards a referendum in 2016, that line of thinking has been severely downplayed in the wake of the trouncing that Greenlight Pinellas took at the polls in 2014. There is a section on the site regarding revenue options which offers these three areas as possible sources for revenue:

• user-based fees such as tolls, gas taxes, and revenue sharing from transit oriented development
• developers’ fair share contributions
• a reliable funding source, such as a sales tax may be needed*

Under that asterisk it says, “The magnitude and the duration of such a tax should not be assumed, and should only be considered after other funding options have been examined.”

A year ago county officials said that a one-cent transit tax could bring in more than $6 billion over 30 years to spend on transit and roads. But obviously spooked by the what the voters have said loud and clear, they obviously are not attempting to push the measure – yet. But obviously those other sources of revenue would not bring in nearly the amount that a sales tax measure would.