Commissioner Murman’s column on transportation appeared in the Tampa Tribune:
COMMENTARY
Sandra L. Murman: An alternative approach to funding transportation needs in Hillsborough County
Published: February 9, 2016
Our community must find funding solutions for our critical transportation needs. The Hillsborough County Commission will soon decide which of the many funding options to pursue to do this. As part of this process, we must also adopt a specific transportation plan. I believe this must be a forward-looking transportation plan that will be valued by our children and grandchildren.
I am pleased that Hillsborough County and its cities have been engaged in a two-year process to get us to this point. However, I believe too much emphasis has been placed on a 30-year, half-cent sales tax referendum at the exclusion of other viable options. I also am concerned that our “plan” is only a list of projects that look more to fix the past instead of building for the future.
I am in favor of an alternative approach that will give our community a significant transportation “win” and provide a substantial increase of transportation funding for Hillsborough County roads. The county commission can achieve this by adopting three specific measures this year that would raise at least $72 million annually, none of which require voter approval of a general tax on themselves.
First, I support prioritizing our existing budgets to fund new transportation investments. This should be the first measure we take before adopting any new fees or taxes. I support creating a transportation trust fund by allocating a percentage of all new property and sales tax revenue each year to fund transportation road work and maintenance. Pasco County has done this, setting aside a portion of new property tax revenues for transportation projects.
This same approach applied in Hillsborough County to new property and sales tax revenues could generate more than $25 million this year, an amount that would grow our recurring base funding each year as our tax base grows. This approach would not take away from any existing programs.
I also support two separate user fees — development fees, commonly referred to as mobility fees, and gas taxes — to help pay for transportation investments. Today, development fees cover less than 10 percent of the costs of new transportation infrastructure required by new growth. While I encourage and support new growth, and appreciate the jobs and tax revenues it generates, I know that it also impacts our transportation infrastructure. Hillsborough needs to levy new development fees so that new growth pays its fair share of such costs. These fees need to be done smartly, so they do not hinder economic development, but still generate the revenue we need to help cover the cost of new transportation capacity. We also should implement smart growth policies that encourage infill development and discourage sprawl.
Reasonable development fees would likely generate more than $20 million or more each year at current growth rates.
I also support adopting a 5-cent local option gas tax as a fair and appropriate way to help fund transportation. Our nation has used gas taxes over the past 70 years to construct one of the finest transportation systems in the world. This investment has fueled much of our national prosperity. In Florida, every coastal county, from Palm Beach to Pasco, with the exception of Hillsborough and Pinellas, has adopted local option gas taxes to help meet their local transportation needs. We need to do the same. As a user fee, this would raise close to $27 million each year.
In advocating for this three-pronged approach, I am heartened that business leaders, transportation experts, tea party and Sierra Club leaders have all voiced support for this broad-based and more certain funding approach. In fact, I find it remarkable that there is so much consensus about pursuing these options.
Still, I know that the revenues from these measures, though historic and robust, cannot fully address our existing transportation deficiencies nor build the 21st century transportation system that people desperately want and that is essential for a dynamic and growing county. So I do understand the policy case for a sales tax referendum. But I believe we need to direct any new, long-term resources to such major emerging mobility options as regional commuter rail using the CSX lines, use of dedicated lanes for transit on our county roads and the interstate, other bus rapid transit corridors, and a regional ferry system on our waterways.
We also need to understand how emerging technologies like Uber and Lyft delivery systems and driverless cars factor into our future, while providing our citizens with a plan that delivers real transportation solutions to their neighborhoods and gives them a feeling that government listens to their wants and needs.
These alternatives have the potential to provide powerful mobility options that can tie our region together, spur economic development and quality jobs and provide big lifestyle dividends for everyone. We need to invest the appropriate time and resources in developing a comprehensive, forward-looking mobility plan that evaluates these options and includes those determined to be feasible and beneficial as part of a foundation for a future transportation referendum. This will take more time and work, require regional cooperation, and build on the work we have done.
I encourage the community and my colleagues to carefully consider these and other funding sources. I want us to secure a major and historic transportation “win” that we need and deserve. I look forward to hearing more from the public about these options and approach, and to working with my colleagues to frame a better future for our community.
Sandra L. Murman represents District 1 on the Hillsborough County Commission.
