A Times Editorial

Ancillary costs offset Wal-Mart tax windfall

For years, the retail eyesore known as Towne Centre at U.S. 19 and Ridge Road was the bane of Port Richey. Annually, candidates for municipal office talked of the need to redevelop the largest piece of prime retail space in the city.

But the much-heralded opening of the Wal-Mart Supercenter there is now accompanied by sobering statistics about its drain on municipal services. As Times staff writer Ryan Davis recently detailed, Wal-Mart's aggressive pursuit of shoplifters is straining the city's 14-person police department. Consider:

One in every 16 calls for an officer stems from the retail outlet.

Response time to other nonemergency calls is up while production from traffic patrols measured in the number of traffic tickets issued has been halved.

The department blew its $22,180 overtime budget by $50,000 five months before the end of the fiscal year.

The expected financial windfall hasn't materialized. Wal-Mart pays $75,000 in city property taxes, or the approximate equivalent of the salary and benefits for two police officers. Equipment, including patrol cars, is extra. The department added one officer in the current budget. Chief William Downs said he will seek two additional officers in the coming budget year to help offset the workload from Wal-Mart.

Certainly, sales tax revenues to the city will increase and out-parcels have developed, too, so the financial benefit is not a complete wash. But other problems still need attention. For instance, the shopping center's development spurred routine traffic tie-ups at the Ridge Road intersection with U.S. 19.

In Port Richey, it is an abject lesson in being careful what you wish for. Government officials elsewhere around Pasco County should pay attention. While growth can bring staggering dollars to a tax base, it is not a budget panacea.

Pasco Property Appraiser Mike Wells revised earlier estimates and now reports a countywide tax base growth of 10.8 percent to $12.2-billion including $550-million in new construction. But similarly rosy numbers a year ago produced a status quo county budget.

This year, commissioners must continue payments on the new electronic voting equipment, construct two public safety buildings delayed a year ago, and cover substantial increases in employee health and county liability insurance coverage.

Mike Nurrenbrok, the county's budget director, already warned it will be a tough budget year. We trust commissioners are listening.

If not, they should talk to Charles Chritton, town attorney for Saint Leo. This month, he cautioned the Town Commission about its duties growing concurrently with the community's nearly $20-million tax base.

"The responsibility is getting a little more serious," Chritton said.

Indeed. Just ask Port Richey.

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