A festering history of code citations and utility liens sidetracks a land sale.
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published March 21, 2004
OLDSMAR - A small green and white sign marks the spot where Bayview Boulevard ends and something quite different begins.
It says "Pasco Private Drive." The unpaved dirt tracks leading north go to a family compound unlike anything in Oldsmar.
To the Pasco family, fields of broken-down cars are fine. Keeping a 15-foot high pile of mud and junk is being resourceful, and driving a dump truck is expected.
The Pascos are unusual, down to the small church they built next door.
"We're unorthodox in the way we do things," Milton Pasco said. "But we're country. That's who we are."
And time after time, the family's way has gotten the Pascos in trouble with the city. Oldsmar City Hall has long wanted the Pascos to fix what's broken, clean up the junk and pay their utility bills on time.
Now city officials would be happy if they could just buy the family's property.
For the past two years, City Manager Bruce Haddock has been negotiating to buy the Pasco family's 21/4-acre homestead. The latest offer, for $280,000, has gone nowhere.
The city says it wants to connect several parcels of land that it owns at the north end of town.
Pasco says he believes it's nothing more than an attempt to get rid of his family.
But they're willing to leave - for the right price.
"We want to go. We want them out of our hair," Milton Pasco said. "But we're not stupid, we won't sign anything.
"That $280,000 ain't so sweet of a deal as the city makes it sound."
A big family, but few remain
The Pascos say city officials are motivated by the prospect of getting rid of a 30-year-old nuisance.
The patriarch and matriarch of the family, James and Sally Pasco, moved to the wooded spot, north of Tampa Road, behind the Oldsmar post office, in 1971. There they raised raised 14 children, including Milton Pasco.
James Pasco - no relation to the man for whom Pasco County is named - worked as a handyman in Safety Harbor and Oldsmar and at one point acted as Oldsmar's garbage collector. He died in 1997.
Sally Pasco was an industrious woman who could cook and run a scrap yard at the same time. She died in 2002, leaving 236 direct descendents. Now most of the family, including Milton Pasco, have left town.
James Pasco Jr., a former city firefighter, continues to live in a house nearby on Douglas Road. Theresa Pasco remains in the Pasco family home, along with her four children.
James Pasco Jr., said it is no coincidence that most of the family has left. He blames city officials, especially the city manager, who he thinks holds a grudge against the family.
Haddock, the city manager since 1986, contends the city has always been civil with the Pascos.
"We haven't been trying to run them out of town," Haddock said. "We've just been trying to have them comply with city code.
"I can say, unequivocally, the city has never discriminated against them or harassed them in any way."
A history of trouble
Fighting with the city is nothing new for the Pasco family.
James Pasco Jr., the former firefighter, has a personnel file with the city more than 6 inches thick.
In it are accusations that James Pasco Jr. failed to respond to fires, often left work for hours without telling anyone where he was and dumped city trash on private property.
In his 11 years as a firefighter, James Pasco Jr. was demoted, suspended or reprimanded at least seven times. In October 1990, he was fired for illegal dumping. He was reinstated that December and instead given a one-month suspension without pay.
He resigned in 1995 "due to religious obligations."
James Pasco Jr. filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission saying he was forced to resign because he was black and that a pair of fire department officers wanted him out.
An internal investigation found no wrongdoing, and the complaint was dropped by the EEOC.
The city also has cited the family for several code violations at the family's Oldsmar properties. Because of junk on his property, the city took James Pasco Jr. to court. The city also has placed several liens for unpaid utility bills on Pasco family properties.
Haddock said the city is pursuing several code violations at the Pasco properties on Douglas and Bayview.
At James Pasco Jr.'s house on Douglas Road, a swimming pool isn't fenced in and a second-floor door opens to nothing. At the family residence at the end of Bayview Boulevard, the house is not connected to the city's sewer system, a violation of city code, Haddock said.
The Pascos have been delinquent on 135 separate utility bills since 1994 at their Bayview Boulevard home, said Al Braithwaite, who runs the city's utility billing division. In the past two years, their water has been shut off nine times - including Thursday - for unpaid bills.
In total, at Bayview, they have missed almost every payment deadline since 1999, Haddock said.
"They stand out by the fact that they have such a poor payment record," Haddock said. "Ninety-eight percent of our customers get a bill every month and they pay."
Milton Pasco says there is an explanation, pulling a tattered folder from a worn leather bag.
Inside, a city utility bill showed the family owed $1,107 for one month of city utility service.
"It's got to be bogus," Pasco said.
Yet, according to the city, Theresa Pasco and her four children used 115,000 gallons of water last August at the Pasco family home.
A followup city inspection found that the meter worked properly, the city said. Officials didn't detect any leaks in the house, either.
So what happened?
"I'm not questioning the fact that it looked odd," said Braithwaite, the finance administrator. "But the meter was fine.
"The water went through that meter."
The Pascos say that's not possible and contend the water bill was falsified. They say they have been paying a city sewer fee for 22 years while they weren't connected to the city system. The sewer fee is tied to the amount of water a family uses. The city says the Pascos have a connection to the city sewer system, but the pump they need to use is broken. It's their pump and responsibility to fix it, city officials say.
More than 30 family members stood up at a City Council meeting this month to protest their water and sewer bills.
The Pascos contend that their connection to the city sewer service was broken by roadwork long ago. They feel they should get credit for 22 years' worth of sewer bills, though they haven't put a number on how much that might be.
An air of defiance
It is against this backdrop that city officials have tried to negotiate a purchase of the Pasco property.
The family's property separates two areas of city-owned land. With it, the city would control a block-long stretch from the new fire station on Pine Avenue N to the city municipal services building on Commerce Boulevard.
Though the deal would connect the land, Haddock said there's no plan for the property after that.
"It would be nice to have one large piece of contiguous property under city ownership," Haddock said. "And yeah, I think in the long term if we wanted to sell it, I think we could make our money back."
In December 2002, Haddock said the city would pay $85,000 for a large part of the 21/4-acre lot.
Haddock said his number was based on an appraisal.
The Pascos said it was ridiculous.
The following October, Haddock countered with $280,000 for the whole property, an offer he said is generous. The land in question consists of four parcels that together are assessed for taxes at $159,700, according to the Pinellas County Property Appraiser.
"There's been a lot of numbers tossed back and forth," Haddock said. "But I can say that we gave a lot more than they did."
Milton Pasco declined to say exactly what the family would take for its land, but he did say he's thinking of a figure closer to $350,000, based on what he thinks the four parcels are worth.
An air of defiance pervades all conversations about the city.
"The city thinks we should run away and hide," James Pasco Jr. said. "But we're not going to do that. We're not going to let them push us around."
