A group of Port Richey residents wants to disband the city.
Can you blame them? Or rather, what took them so long?
Pointing to the cost of government services and Port Richey's famous city politics, the group is circulating a petition seeking an April referendum to dissolve the municipal government and allow residents to be governed by Pasco County.
As with most issues in Port Richey, nothing is exactly as it seems on the surface.
Ex-council member Tom Brown, who previously advocated dismantling the Police Department, recruited members of the new committee to push the petition. It's worth a reminder that Brown resigned his seat on the council during the 2000 investigation of then-Acting Mayor Bob Leggiere's meddling at the Building Department. A clandestine police recording captured Leggiere saying he routinely held private conversations about public business with Brown and other council members, which is prohibited by Florida's Sunshine Law.
The group's emergence comes nearly simultaneously with the announced departure of long-serving council member Pat Guttman who said she will not seek re-election in April.
If the petition for a referendum is successful, it could coincide with another ballot question on whether the city should restore its police dispatching service, cut by a three-person council majority in favor of contracting with New Port Richey's police dispatchers.
Knowing this city's oddball politics, what are the chances of voters approving both referenda, deciding they want to keep police dispatchers, but eliminate the city government?
The wisest course of action is to aim the referendum to dissolve the city for the Aug. 31 primary election ballot.
It will allow time for a rational debate of the pros and cons instead of a hurried, emotional campaign filled with inadequate or erroneous information. The petition seekers, for instance, never mention the requirement to join Pasco County's fire district, which this year charged 1.73 mills, while they advocate an overall cost savings.
City Manager Vince Lupo didn't help with his statements to Times staff writer Alex Leary that county and school taxes are going up, not Port Richey's.
Not exactly. Pasco County reduced its countywide property tax rate each of the past three years. The School District, meanwhile, cut its local tax rate in the current budget year. And, while it's true Port Richey raised its rate only once in the past six years, Lupo failed to mention he proposes annual property tax increases, only to be rebuked by a council majority. The result this budget year was a prolonged debate over the future of the Police Department - again based on erroneous information from the administration - and the council's eventual decision to eliminate dispatching and to turn the code enforcement officers into a contract position.
It's only natural for Lupo to oppose the city's demise since it would leave him out of the city manager's job, but he should not add to the controversy by passing along imprecise information.
There is much to digest in Port Richey. For starters, a court challenge on the validity of the dispatching referendum remains pending. Meanwhile, Guttman's departure and the April ballot, when Dale Massad, the leader of the anti-police movement on the council, is up for re-election, presents voters an opportunity to upgrade the city's elected leadership.
There are suspicions in some quarters the push to dismantle the city is a severe reaction to misjudging the public loyalty toward the police and the potential political fallout from the budget attacks on the department.
In this city, anything is possible. But deciding the fate of the government shouldn't be rash. Waiting until the August ballot would be prudent and demonstrate that ulterior motives aren't the guiding force for this newest referendum.
