Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Tribune article on the high-speed ferry:

TRANSPORTATION

Does ferry’s fate depend on transportation tax vote?

By Mike Salinero | Tribune Staff 
Published: June 20, 2015   |   Updated: June 21, 2015 at 09:32 AM

TAMPA — Fans of a high-speed ferry service have been pressuring Hillsborough County officials to speed up environmental and engineering work so the speedy watercraft can begin zipping across Tampa Bay.

These supporters, who include environmentalists and some conservatives, say they oppose tying county funding for the ferry to a proposed half-cent-per-dollar sales tax increase for transportation projects. The proposed tax will go on the November 2016 ballot if county commissioners approve the measure this fall.

The ferry proponents say waiting until late next year to make decisions on funding the project could endanger a $5.3 million federal grant for the ferry. The grant is contingent on the county providing 20 percent matching funds and spending the money before 2019.

So far, County Administrator Mike Merrill has refused to veer from the county present schedule, which includes a 12- to 18-month environmental and engineering study, followed by a ridership survey that could take three months.

What’s more, Merrill said he’s not likely to recommend funding the ferry unless the sales tax referendum passes. Other transportation and transit projects were given higher priority during the county’s Go Hillsborough public outreach effort, he said.

The ferry service would run between the county’s South Shore and MacDill Air Force Base, catering mostly to MacDill employees. If that route is successful, ferry service could be expanded to link Tampa and St. Petersburg.

“I would never recommend that suddenly we’ll just fund the ferry project ahead of all the other needs identified by Go Hillsborough,” Merrill said. “We spent all this time and the community has said doing roads, bridges and intersections are a top priority. Then suddenly I put in my budget a ferry ahead of all of that?”

In an effort to change Merrill’s mind, attorney and ferry promoter Ed Turanchik has argued that the county could lose future transit grants if it doesn’t follow through on its commitment to the transit grant.

“The county said it was ready to go, ready to provide the match,” said Turanchik, who represents HMS Ferries, one of the partners in the project. “The match was not dependent on passing a tax increase or a ridership study.”

The same arguments were made by US. Rep. Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat, in a June 4 letter to Merrill. Castor reminded the county administrator that she had worked to secure $475,000 in 2009 from the Federal Highway Administration for a feasibility study on the ferry. In 2014, Castor said, she helped get a $4.8 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration for construction work on the ferry terminal.

“Unless the community puts these federal grant dollars to work, it will be more difficult to advocate for greater transportation investments for our community,” Castor wrote in the letter.

Merrill denied that the grant is in danger and said the county has no obligation to fund the ferry.

“We’ve been in regular contact with the feds,” Merrill said. “They are perfectly content with the process we’re taking. They understand in the end, we may not be able to fund the project. All they asked is to keep them apprised how we are doing in the process.”

Merrill said funding for the ferry has always been heavily dependent on the outcome of a proposed sales tax referendum for transportation. Without that infusion of extra cash, the county probably couldn’t justify a big outlay for the ferry, he said.

County Commissioner Ken Hagan told The Tampa Tribune recently that he would try to find money for the ferry if the referendum failed. Commissioner Sandy Murman said her understanding is the county is committed to funding the project with or without the sales tax passing.

“If all the conditions of the ferry are met and the agreement has been fulfilled, whether the referendum passes or not, we will find or identify a funding source to get this ferry going,” Murman said.

But other commissioners have a different understanding. Like Merrill, they said funding is dependent on the ridership survey, which will show whether HMS Ferries can board enough passengers to keep the business afloat.

“I do not think the county should divert funds to (the ferry) in the absence of a half cents sales tax,” said Commissioner Stacy White, who represents parts of south Hillsborough where many of the potential ferry riders live. “I would rather see that $10 million go into road work because we have such a roadwork backlog to take care of.’’

Another skeptic is Al Higginbotham, an at-large commissioner who represents the entire county. Higginbotham said funding the ferry without the sales tax money might mean shorting more important programs, such as Head Start, the early childhood learning program or Aging Services.

“If I was a ferry proponent, I would be looking at ways that I’m on that list of transportation options’’ funded by the tax increase,” Higginbotham said. “They should be looking at that as their best line of revenue.”

The ferry was included in an early list of projects to be funded by a sales tax referendum. A final list of projects will be determined after public meetings are held this summer as part of the county’s Go Hillsborough outreach effort.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on the budget:

County staff gets raises, residents gets parks in proposed Hillsborough budget

• Steve Contorno, Times Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 17, 2015 2:51pm

TAMPA — Hillsborough County employees will get raises and residents will get new parks while the tax rate remains unchanged.

Those are some of the developments that can be expected under a two-year budget unveiled Wednesday by county Administrator Mike Merrill.

The $4.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2016 is full of indicators that Hillsborough County, like the rest of the country, is emerging from the recession.

For the third consecutive year since the economic downturn in 2007, sales and property taxes grew. Merrill, in his presentation to commissioners, credited that to declining unemployment and rebounding home sales.

The proposed millage rate for the next two years is unchanged from the ongoing fiscal year. However, the county will still raise $38 million more in revenue from taxpayers as a result of a growing tax base from new homes and rising property values.

In all, there’s nearly $100 million in new revenue for the county, a quarter of which Merrill set aside for commissioner projects. Those include $6 million for an Alafia River Park, $3 million for a South County Community Center and $1 million for a cultural assets program.

Although county revenues are expected to increase 5 percent during the next year, they remain $157 million less than prerecession levels in 2007.

The 2016 budget is $640 million more than the $4.10 billion 2015 budget, but the large jump is not due to a massive influx of cash. Of that increase, all but $145 million is a reflection of the county’s transition to a new budgeting practice, which rolls over unused capital projects and grant money to the next budget.

In addition to the new parks and programs, Merrill also called for a 4 percent average pay raise for county employees who meet certain performance measures.

The proposed budget sets aside $2 million for a University of South Florida Area Innovation District Master Plan. Merrill has previously indicated he hopes to lure a large, established company to build its headquarters near USF to anchor such a district. One potential site is the Museum of Science and Industry, which is studying a move to Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik’s downtown redevelopment project.

As budget negotiations progress, the county will also have to deal with a 15 percent increase in the cost of county employee health care, Merrill said.

Wednesday’s presentation was the first step in what will be months of workshops and public hearings before the budget is finalized in September.

Looming over the budget discussions is the ongoing effort to persuade county voters to approve a half-cent sales tax to fund Go Hillsborough’s proposed transportation improvements.

Commissioner Les Miller called Merrill’s fiscal blueprint a “bare-bones budget” that demonstrates there’s no money available to fund much-needed transportation projects. Most of the budget goes toward public safety, water and sewer, trash pickup, capital projects and other expenditures that can’t be shifted to pay for day-to-day operations or new programs.

“We are living within our means and the means does not give us the opportunity to do all the things that we’ve heard (through) Go Hillsborough (public outreach),” Miller said. “We need to get that message out.”

Commissioner Sandy Murman, though, suggested that there’s still room to “reprioritize what’s really important” in the budget.

“If we have any extra dollars coming in this county, what are the greatest needs they should go to, and make sure that they bring us a good return on investment,” she said. “But we do a lot.”

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Area Development Online News article on Hercules Fluid Power Group:

Hercules Fluid Power Group Plans Manufacturing-Distribution Complex In Tampa, Florida

Area Development Online News Desk (06/16/2015)

EDITORS PICKS

An international distributor of hydraulic and pneumatic seals, seal kits and cylinders for all heavy equipment brands, Hercules Fluid Power Group will open a new manufacturing and distribution center in Hillsborough County, Florida. The company will create 50 new jobs for Tampa families with a $1 million capital investment.

Russ Brown, President of HFPG, said, “HFPG is a dynamic, growing group of companies. Our most recent need to support our continued business expansion led us to consider a number of locations for our new facility. HFPG has proudly selected Tampa. This move allows us to take advantage of Tampa’s strong talent pool and cost – effective environment to continue to build the company into the industry leading provider of Fluid Power seals for Mobile Heavy Equipment and industrial applications. HFPG would like to thank Enterprise Florida, The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation for their assistance and commitment to supporting local business development.”

The project was made possible through strong partnerships between Enterprise Florida, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, Hillsborough County and the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation. The new manufacturing and distribution center in Tampa will occupy 35,000 square feet of leased space. HFPG is investing approximately $1 million in building improvements, new equipment and office furniture.

Governor Rick Scott said, “Florida continues to be a top destination for companies looking to expand or locate their manufacturing business. More than 865,000 new jobs have been created in Florida since December 2010 and Hercules Fluid Power Group’s decision to open a manufacturing and distribution center in Florida is more proof of our state’s positive business climate and outstanding infrastructure.”

“We’re very pleased to welcome HFPG to Hillsborough County,” said the Hon. Sandra Murman, Chair of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners. “We’ve worked hard to develop our distribution, manufacturing and logistics sectors by offering competitive workforce support and business assistance packages that put companies locating here on a fast track for growth. This strategy is clearly working. We look forward to supporting HFPG’s success and thank them for bringing more jobs and investment to our community.”

Bill Johnson, Enterprise Florida President/CEO said, “Florida is a global economic hub so it’s no surprise when companies like HFPG choose Florida as home for their next manufacturing and distribution center. Florida wisely continues to invest in infrastructure making our state even more irresistible to companies who seek to increase their international footprint. I congratulate HFPG on their announcement and look forward to watching them continue to grow here in Florida.”

Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Jesse Panuccio said, “With the expansion of Hercules Fluid Power Group, Tampa’s economy continues its strong growth. Manufacturing is a critically important industry, and the Scott administration is committed to policies that foster its growth.”

“HFPG already has distribution centers in at least two other states that competed for this project,” said Dr. Ronald Vaughn, Chair of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation and President of the University of Tampa. “But those states simply couldn’t beat what Hillsborough County offered in terms of quality and availability of the talent and an ideal location for expanding service to their customers in the southeastern U.S., Europe, and other international destinations. Hillsborough County’s reputation as a destination for distribution, logistics, and manufacturing operations is on the rise.”

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Tribune article on manufacturing jobs:

BUSINESS NEWS

New manufacturing, distribution center brings 50 jobs to Tampa

By Yvette C. Hammett | Tribune Staff 
Published: June 16, 2015   |   Updated: June 16, 2015 at 05:42 PM

TAMPA — Hercules Fluid Power Group will open a new manufacturing and distribution center in Hillsborough County creating 50 jobs, the governor’s office announced Tuesday.

HFPG, an international distributor of hydraulic and pneumatic seals, seal kits and cylinders for heavy equipment,will occupy 35,000 square feet of leased space at 8711 Florida Mining Road in Tampa and invest $1 million in building improvements and upgrades.

“This move allows us to take advantage of Tampa’s strong talent pool and cost-effective environment to continue to build the company into the industry leading provider of Fluid Power seals for mobile heavy equipment and industrial applications,” HFPG President Russ Brown said in a statement.

The company is receiving an incentive package worth $130,000, including $120,000 from the state’s Qualified Target Industry Program and $30,000 from Hillsborough County. The total package will provide support for the 50 new jobs with a minimum average salary of $48,813. The incentives will be distributed over four years and will only be paid as the jobs are created.

“This is a clear example of a company that had a choice of where to put this manufacturing operation,” said Rick Homans, president and CEO of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp., which helped broker the deal. “They know and love Tampa Bay and decided to stay here.”

Homans said about 80 percent of the jobs that get generated through the deals the EDC helps negotiate are expansions of businesses already in this area. “The highest percentage comes from company expansions versus relocations.”

Enterprise Florida and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity also assisted in putting the deal together.

Founded in 1962 and headquartered in Clearwater, HFPG has 385 employees in the United States and Canada. In addition to its Florida facilities, the company has distribution centers in six other states.

“HFPG already has distribution centers in at least two other states that competed for this project,” said Ronald Vaughn, chair of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. and president of the University of Tampa. “But those states simply couldn’t beat what Hillsborough County offered in terms of quality and availability of the talent and an ideal location for expanding service to their customers in the southeastern U.S., Europe, and other international destinations. Hillsborough County’s reputation as a destination for distribution, logistics, and manufacturing operations is on the rise.”

County Commission Chairwoman Sandy Murman, too, welcomes the investment and new jobs. “We’re very pleased to welcome HFPG to Hillsborough County. We’ve worked hard to develop our distribution, manufacturing and logistics sectors by offering competitive workforce support and business assistance packages that put companies locating here on a fast track for growth.”

Anyone interested in job opportunities can refer to the company’s website at www.herculesus.com.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Tribune article on Port:

BUSINESS NEWS

Port Tampa Bay marketing properties for lease

By Yvette C. Hammett | Tribune Staff 
Published: June 16, 2015

TAMPA — A steel company that has leased land from Port Tampa Bay for years is expanding its footprint there and will become the second company in what port officials hope will eventually be a steel business cluster.

Port Tampa Bay is aggressively marketing 25 parcels available for lease and is devising a plan on how to coordinate its tenants to make maximum revenue. It has even set up a new section on its website listing all properties available for lease.

Kloeckner Metals Corp., which leases 4.5 acres on 22nd Street now for its metal distribution business, has outgrown its facility and will expand with a new lease on 12 undeveloped acres in Southbay, located in southern Hillsborough County.

“That’s all brand new revenue,” said Port Real Estate Director Lane Ramsfield. In the next six months or so, he said, the staff will reveal more specifics about its strategic plan for the other available port property.

Already, the port staff has unveiled plans for creating that steel cluster at Port Redwing, which started when it contracted with Tampa Tank Inc. and Florida Structural Steel in January. The company plans to construct a 120,000 square-foot building at Port Redwing and retrofit an existing 40,000 square-foot building there, adding 24 jobs at its headquarters in Ybor City and 84 jobs at Port Redwing.

Kloeckner receives steel straight from the mills, then sells it to fabricators. It has agreed to a 25-year lease with the port for a 144,000 square-foot facility. The port will make about $8 million in rent in the first decade, with rent increasing 1.5 percent per year for the remaining 15 years of the lease.

In return, the port will spend up to $10 million to build a warehouse, add a rail spur and utilities and complete other site work on the property.

At the request of Hillsborough County Commission Chairwoman Sandy Murman, who sits on the Tampa Port Authority Board, Ramsfield made a presentation to the port authority board Tuesday outlining where it owns real estate, what the land is used for and what land is still available for lease.

Port Tampa Bay, at 2,565 upland acres, has 277 acres up for grabs in various locations across the property. The majority of its land consists of spoil islands and conservation areas and while there are 56 undeveloped acres in Channelside, they are not for lease at this time.

“There is an extensive planning effort” in the works for Channelside, between the port’s own master plan for that area and Lightning owner Jeff Vinik’s plans for massive development in the downtown area. Ramsfield said specifics for the Channelside District will be revealed within the next year. With so many people having moved to the Channelside area there has been enormous value added to the real estate there, he said. “We are going to maximize that.”

The land available for lease is in areas now used by ship builders, manufacturers, petroleum companies, container operations or bulk distributors.

The property that will bring the highest revenue is in Hooker’s Point, Port Sutton and Eastport, with deep water access, Ramsfield said.

Raul Alfonso, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for the port, said his office is working closely with the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. and other business development partners to attract new business that will create more jobs and fit in with the port’s future plans. He declined to reveal many details.

“A lot of these real estate deals have to stay confidential,” Murman said. “These companies want incentives. They don’t want people to know they are looking at a property.”

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on probation services:

Hillsborough eyes controversial for-profit company to handle probation services

• Steve Contorno, Times Staff Writer

Monday, June 15, 2015 7:37pm

TAMPA — Hillsborough County is poised to give a $7.2 million contract to run its probation operations to Sentinel Offender Services, a company at the center of controversy in other states for similar work.

Commissioners will vote Wednesday on a three-year agreement that will pay Sentinel $2.4 million per year to manage misdemeanor probation in the county, which includes drug testing, providing intervention programs and monitoring about 3,000 defendants.

If approved, Sentinel will take over for the Salvation Army, the nonprofit that operated those services in the county for 40 years. But last year, the Salvation Army decided to exit the criminal justice business in Hills­borough amid questions about its mission and controversy about its finances.

The Salvation Army is best known for its charitable works, thrift stores and bell-ringing Christmas volunteers who collect donations every holiday season. But a 2011 Tampa Bay Times investigation found that the nonprofit also owned a $12 million headquarters in Lutz and had a largely tax-exempt $75 million real estate portfolio.

It was also paying former Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman $95,000 annually for unspecified work until he retired from the organization in 2010.

Sentinel, though, is not without controversy of its own. It has, at times, been the focus of a national debate over whether for-profit companies should be allowed to run probation services for local governments.

The for-profit route is an enticing option because the company doesn’t charge anything to localities up front. Instead, Sentinel collects startup and monthly fees from offenders to provide the ongoing monitoring and the services needed to fulfill their sentence.

According to the company’s bid proposal, there’s a one-time enrollment fee of $15 and basic probation costs of $45 a month after that. Other compliance services, such as domestic violence intervention programs, cost an additional $49 per month. If an offender needs to be monitored on house arrest, it costs $6 per day and up to $11 a day for GPS tracking.

Sentinel’s model has drawn criticism from groups such as Human Rights Watch, who say the company penalizes low-income offenders with costly additional fees, extended probation periods and potential jail time if they can’t afford to pay their fees, which can quickly stack up.

Last year in Georgia, which has become ground zero in the for-profit probation battle, the state Supreme Court ruled against Sentinel in a closely watched court case.

The court said the Sentinel practice known as “tolling” — indefinitely extending probation to collect more fees whenever the company’s probation officer alleged misconduct — was illegal.

Sentinel, which is based in California, said it could not comment on its potential deal with Hillsborough until it was finalized.

An evaluation committee recommended Sentinel for the bid over five other companies, narrowly edging out Bay Area Youth Services Inc., a Tampa nonprofit that operates juvenile intervention programs.

Some within the county, including Clerk of the Circuit Court Pat Frank, hoped the Hills­borough County Sheriff’s Office and county courts could handle misdemeanor probation internally. Pinellas County chose that path when it broke away from the Salvation Army in 2011.

“I’m very concerned about the direction we’re heading,” Frank said. “It leads to poverty cycles, then they lose their job, and their car and their insurance.

“It’s frustrating to me because it seems we aren’t looking at the big picture.”

However, the Sheriff’s Office was not interested in taking on those duties, County Commissioner Sandy Murman said. Sentinel already provides electronic monitoring services for the Sheriff’s Office.

“I believe that the procurement was done by the books,” Murman said. “Naturally, there is a lot of discussion about (for-profit companies providing government services), but we did the procurement based on the fact the sheriff didn’t want to do the services.”

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on transportation:

Hillsborough transportation plan leaves room for light rail

• Caitlin Johnston, Times Staff Writer

Sunday, June 14, 2015 8:31pm

TAMPA — The dream is still alive for those clamoring for light rail.

Hillsborough County officials have recommended a transportation plan built around a half-cent sales tax projected to generate $3.5 billion over 30 years. Though consultants suggest nearly two-thirds of that would be spent on building and maintaining roads, they’ve also given the city of Tampa the go-ahead to use its share of the funds as it sees fit.

For Mayor Bob Buckhorn, that means looking at transit options such as light rail and a revived downtown streetcar.

“Our issues are maintenance of existing roads and intersection improvements,” he said, “but equally important is developing transportation alternatives and options.

“That’s where rail is going to be a big factor for us, and the opportunity to use these dollars for a rail project.”

The city is largely built out, so Tampa isn’t looking to build roads. Instead, the city will likely spend a “high percentage” of its cut on transit, the mayor said, which could mean building a rail line linking downtown to the West Shore business district and Tampa International Airport.

It could also mean expanding and modernizing the underwhelming streetcar system. By adding new, enclosed, air-conditioned cars, extending the network and running on a more frequent schedule, an improved streetcar could fit nicely with Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik’s $1 billion vision for redeveloping downtown.

A light-rail line has long been a dream for the mayor, transit advocates and the young professionals of the city. Getting 5 miles of track into the ground from downtown to the WestShore Plaza area could be the spark needed to expand the transit network across Hillsborough County.

“You have to build a starter line, for lack of a better term, that people can see and touch and ride and appreciate,” Buckhorn said. “And what has happened in other jurisdictions, be it Denver or Phoenix, is that once they see it and they ride it and they realize the value of it, that communities start to clamor for it to come to their neighborhoods.”

County Administrator Mike Merrill and consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff unveiled the proposed half-cent sales tax plan on Thursday. The policy leadership group, made up of city and county elected leaders, will decide whether to approve that plan on July 16. If it does, then the plan will go before the voters in a referendum in 2016.

When details of the half-cent plan first surfaced, the Sierra Club and Connect Tampa Bay, a transit advocacy group, were peeved. Their leaders said it would be hard for the groups to support a two-thirds, one-third split of funds.

Under the half-cent proposal, transit would get 36 percent of all revenue brought in by the sales tax. That comes out to about $42 million a year out of the $117.5 million that the new tax could generate annually for the county’s transportation needs.

Transit needs to get close to half of the allocation for realistic change to occur, Connect Tampa Bay executive director Kevin Thurman said.

That might still be possible through the half-cent sales tax, which would allow each jurisdiction to decide how it wants to spend its share of tax dollars.

The plan assumed each city and the county would dedicate 10 percent of their share to transit, but those governments could invest whatever they want.

If the city used a significant chunk of its tax revenue on light rail or the streetcar, that could bump the overall share for transit above 40 percent. That’s significantly better, Thurman said.

“If they would allow the city to spend more money on urban transit and not prevent them from building a rail line to West Shore,” Thurman said, “then this becomes a serious thing I can see people enthusiastically supporting.”

Temple Terrace and Plant City could use part of their portions to fund express buses and circulators. The county could invest in Bus Rapid Transit, where buses travel along dedicated lanes, sparing them from local traffic.

“People view that light rail, for now, is not viable in unincorporated Hillsborough County,” said Bob Clifford of Parsons Brinckerhoff. “They do, though, think there are opportunities and support for it within the city of Tampa. … They believe the city has the things that are necessary for that kind of premium transit.”

Although the plan is filled with all kinds of transit options, a majority of funds are going to new roads, intersection improvements, road maintenance, and bike and pedestrian improvements.

Just as the cities could choose to invest in transit, the county could pour its entire share of the sales tax — nearly $2 billion over 30 years — into roads.

“Each jurisdiction needs to have that flexibility,” Buckhorn said. “For a lot of us, that made this proposal a lot more acceptable.”

And even if Tampa were to spend all of its tax revenue on transit — a highly unlikely scenario — that wouldn’t prohibit residents in the county from getting the much-needed road and intersection improvements they so desire, County Commission Chairwoman Sandra Murman said.

Residents who turned out to public meetings in Ruskin, Brandon and Apollo Beach made it clear that roads were their top priority. Under this plan, the county could start to build roads while clearing a $750 million backlog of maintenance issues.

“Each jurisdiction’s going to be held accountable for what they do with their money,” Murman said. “What they said they wanted, we are going to deliver.”

Commissioner Murman quoted in this WUSF news article on public safety complex opening:

Hillsborough Public Safety Complex Breaks Ground

By DAYLINA MILLER

Across from the Central Hillsborough Water Treatment Facility in Brandon is a few acres of upturned dirt littered with the beginnings of a construction project that county officials hope will help them better handle natural disasters.

Ground was broken Thursday morning for the Public Safety Operations Complex, a 52,000-square-foot facility that will replace Hillsborough County’s Fire Rescue Headquarters andEmergency Operations Center, both located on Hanna Avenue in Tampa.

“Four hurricanes in a row in 2004 were vivid reminders that we are completely surrounded by water and we have to take that as important reminder to all of us,” said Sandra Murman, chairman of the Board of County Commissioners.

“Hurricane preparedness is going to be a way of life for Floridians and that’s what our emergency operations center does such a good job at in getting the word out. It’s not just a seasonal occurrence. I know we hype it up for June 1, but it’s all year long.”

Those same hurricanes are what made the need for a new facility so apparent, said the county’s new Fire Rescue Chief, Dennis Jones.

Jones recalls many uncomfortable nights spent in the current emergency operations and fire rescue buildings, which are 23 years old, cramped and equipped with outdated technology.

“I personally spent a lot of long hours – 24, 48, 72 hours at time – sleeping on the floor in a facility that was really not designed to manage the emergencies we were dealing with at the level we were trying to deal with them,” Jones said.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this StPetersBlog article on transportation:

Hillsborough County half-percent sales tax for transit plan goes public

By Mitch Perry –

Jun 11, 2015

Cautious optimism seemed to be the mood espoused by many members of both the public and lawmakers this afternoon after Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill and Bob Clifford with transportation consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff delivered many (but not all) of the fine details of a proposed half-percent sales transit tax that could go before Hillsborough County voters in the fall of 2016 today.

“We are ranked the 11th worst area for traffic congestion in the United States, and that’s something that I don’t think that any of us are proud of, or want to live with any longer,” declared Hillsborough County Chair Sandy Murman, in kicking off Thursday’s Policy Leadership Group meeting to hear the culmination of a plan that included extensive input from the public facilitated by Parson Brinckerhoff earlier this year.

After the one-cent sales transit sales tax went down to defeat in 2010, Hillsborough County officials essentially did nothing regarding transit for the next couple of years, even though they realized that the problem hadn’t gone away. With $750 million in unmet road maintenance needs, the Policy Leadership Group (also known as the Transportation Economic Development group) began meeting early in 2014 to devise a plan to address the situation.

The answer is now a half-cent sales tax over 30 years time, resulting in $3.525 billion in revenues, which breaks down to $117.5 million annually. 23.8 percent of that would go to road maintenance, 36 percent for new roads, 36 percent for transit, and 3.9 percent for sidewalks/bike safety.

The plan would also call for those revenues to be distributed to the five separate governments or agencies: 55.23 percent would go to Hillsborough County, 25 percent to HART, 16.82 percent to Tampa, 1.72 percent to Plant City and 1.2 percent to Temple Terrace.

The Policy Leadership group will convene next month to vote to approve the proposal, and based on comments made by public officials today, that doesn’t appear to be a problem.

If approved, the Board of County Commissioners would vote on ballot language for a 2016 referendum. It would require five of the seven members to vote yes to get it on the ballot.

Commissioner Al Higginbotham was a huge critic of the 2010 referendum, but he said today that he was impressed by the work that has gone into producing this plan — at least so far. “The plan in 2010 was nowhere like what we have today,” he said. Applauding the involvement of the community, he said that this was “not a proposal cooked up in backrooms with doors closed. …I’m going to support it. I don’t agree with all of it.”

Commissioner Stacy White has been the most outspoken member of the board in saying he hasn’t thought that it was necessary to ask the public to pay for the county’s transit needs. He said today that he was concerned that some citizens in South County would decide to cross county lines into Manatee to go shopping. “I’m trying to get to a yes, but i’m going to need to see more concrete plans.”

Several others in the room said later that they, too, needed more details, and Clifford said that will be coming, as Parsons Brinckerhoff will schedule 12 additional meetings later this year spread out through the county with specific projects that they will ask the public to weigh in on.

When word leaked out on Wednesday that transit would not be as prominently featured in the funding allocation as roads, there was initial criticism, particularly for Tampa-based transit advocates who want light rail. But those opinions were tempered somewhat today, now that it’s apparent that Tampa could on its own opt to fund a project like an extension of the streetcar from downtown to Tampa International Airport.

“I’d be inclined to support it,” said Tampa City Councilman and HART board Chairman Mike Suarez. But he had questions about bonding capabilities. “If we partnered with the city and HART put in $5 million and city put in $15 million, that $20 million then gets leveraged, how do you do that in terms of getting bonded? Because the  city and HART are separate entities, so you’d have to find a way of doing the whole project yourself, or finding a way in which a partnership works. There’s a lot of very specific questions that need to be answered before we can go forward, and how we build something as expensive as rail to go from downtown Tampa to the airport….the devil’s in the details.”

Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller initially ran for his District 5 seat back in 2010, when the transit tax was also on the ballot. He said he knew the initiative was going to lose when he campaigned in the unincorporated areas of the county, because voters there said the ballot measure had nothing in it for them. This time it’s different, he maintains.

“Hillsborough County is locked into cars,” he says. “They’re not going to get out of their cars.” He said that in community meetings held by Go Hillsborough in the county, the call was “help us with our roads, our roads, our roads. We’ve gotta take care of both. If we didn’t do that, it was going to fail again.”

He adds though that if Tampa officials want to use their dollars to pay for rail, they can do that. “This does not prevent the city of Tampa if Bob Buckhorn and the City Council want to use those dollars and look at what they could possibly do, for rail, they can.”

But Sharon Calvert says that Tampa would also have to not just pay to build a rail system, but operate it. “It has to be sustainable,” she says.

Known for her strong opposition to the Moving Hillsborough Forward initiative in 2010 and the high-speed rail proposal offered by President Obama, Calvert says 30 years is too long to allow the County Commission to have such a funding source, and says if it was whittled down to something like 7-10 years, it wouldn’t have a difficult time passing in the county.

“Let the voters decide,” she says about going beyond that. But she agrees that the county needs to start funding the construction and rehabilitation of some of its roads. “I need to see the details,” she adds.

County Commission candidate Brian Willis was distressed on Wednesday when he heard about the breakdown of funding being weighed heavily toward roads. But he’s optimistic to hear that the plan allows specific local governments to best decide their needs. “One thing that is clear to me in my campaign is that every neighborhood has their own concerns. Tampa is rail, Thonotosassa it’s not, and if they have a plan that meets those needs, I think a lot of people from around the county are going to be able to get behind it.”

Working with Virginia-based Democratic pollster Keith Frederick, Parsons Brinckerhoff conducted a survey in April in which they say that 52 percent of likely voters said they would vote for a half-cent sales tax, with 43 percent preferring a 1-cent sales tax.