Taxpayers are the losers as officials representing Pinellas County and the city of St. Petersburg keep picking petty fights with each other.
Published August 24, 2003
Pinellas County and St. Petersburg government officials are beginning to behave like spoiled children fighting over a toy. Both sides have thrown tantrums over refinancing of Tropicana Field bonds. Some county commissioners have threatened, in effect, to take their ball and go home if the city won't share. It takes two to make a fight, of course, and city officials are also to blame for this deteriorating relationship.
It all might be funny if it weren't for the fact that the two governments are looking increasingly foolish, and the losers, in the end, will be taxpayers.
Relations were already strained this summer when St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker came up with an idea of refinancing stadium bonds. A lower interest rate would mean bond payments could be reduced by about $750,000 annually. Baker offered to pass along $100,000 a year of that savings to the county, which along with the city is obligated to repay the bonds. The county said it wanted $250,000. Though both sides wrapped their arguments in legalese, they can be boiled down to this: The money is mine; no, it's mine.
The city decided to go it alone on the refinancing (and keep all the savings for itself), but it appears to have been a serious miscalculation. If the city pursues its plan, the county might be released from an obligation to pledge 1 cent of the tourist tax for bond repayment. That would be a big problem for the city because it would reduce county contributions from $4-million to $2.6-million. In that case, St. Petersburg would have to make up the difference and end up losing money on the deal.
The City Council wasn't in a conciliatory mood, however, when it decided Thursday to go ahead with the refinancing (which is growing less attractive as interest rates rise). But first it needs the County Commission to renew its pledge of the tourist tax. The city offered no sweetener, so it's not clear how the county will respond. There is a chance that the refinancing will fail and the two sides will end up in court, wasting even more tax dollars.
It would be irresponsible for the County Commission to consider weakening its support for the stadium. On the other hand, city officials have done nothing to encourage the county to reaffirm its commitment.
It is always difficult to say who fired the first shot in an ongoing feud, but one thing is clear: There is never a winner in such a battle. Pinellas County says the city got things off on the wrong foot by moving to annex a county preserve without first discussing it with county officials. This came after the County Commission did the city a big favor by taking over title to Tropicana Field to save St. Petersburg $1.3-million a year in property taxes on the stadium. Then the two fought over who should pay for fire hydrants in Lealman, an unincorporated area that gets its water from the city. It's your responsibility, no it's your responsibility, that argument went.
And on and on. It has grown so petty that when St. Petersburg moved up its Sunday alcohol serving time inside the city from 1 p.m. to 11 a.m., Pinellas officials countered by asserting that only the County Commission had that authority. As it turns out, other cities have deviated from the county's hours-of-sale ordinance in the past without drawing comment from county officials.
It is time for mature voices to prevail. After all, city residents are also county residents, and both governments are interdependent in many ways.
County Commissioner Calvin Harris set the right tone at a recent commission discussion of the bond issue. "Sometimes, we need to be adults," Harris said to his colleagues.
