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BRIDGET HALL GRUMETEmbassy Hills residents rejected an assessment last year to repave streets. But some neighbors now want the job to get done.
PORT RICHEY - The vote wasn't even close.
By a 2-to-1 margin, the residents of Embassy Hills rejected a $600-per-home assessment last year to resurface their neighborhood streets.
Some thought the new pavement was unnecessary. Others couldn't afford it.
All of them figured the issue was dead.
But the $1.7-million proposal has flickered back to life, and with it the debate over whether the county should impose "forced assessments" to get unpopular road projects done.
At a public hearing April 14, the County Commission will decide whether to press forward with the Embassy Hills repaving project anyway, as a group of neighbors has urged. Beyond the fate of these 65 streets, the vote could set a precedent for the county imposing paving assessments in other aging communities with worn roads.
"This is probably the first one that we've brought to (the County Commission) that we think the roads need to be resurfaced before they fall apart and get really expensive" to repair, County Administrator John Gallagher said. "If they start falling apart, we're talking $2,000 or $3,000" assessments per home to fix them.
"If the board goes ahead with this one," Gallagher said, "we'll probably bring more subdivisions to them where the streets are 30 or 45 years old, and we need to save them before they deteriorate."
The news is heartening to those who say the repaving is desperately needed - and infuriating to those who voted against the project the first time.
"It's like a dictatorship. We're supposed to be in a free country," said Ida Aston, a retiree who lives on Nova Scotia Drive. "How can they say we're going to do it anyway and you're going to pay? I don't think that's right."
The commission decided in January to revisit the project at the request of several residents, who said the potholes on some streets are dangerous and hard on cars. Letters went out to about 2,600 homes in March saying the maximum cost to repave the roads would be $661.22 per home, or $737.28 with interest if people took up to five years to pay.
Commissioner Ann Hildebrand said she heard from several homeowners who wanted the project (although the resident leading the effort did not return calls from the Pasco Times on Friday).
"I've talked to a few of them who are real passionate about wanting the streets to be redone," Hildebrand said. "And Lord knows the streets do need to be resurfaced."
The county faced a similar dilemma in Moon Lake several years ago. A majority of the property owners in one area voted against a road paving assessment, but most of the opposition came from absentee landowners. A majority of the folks who actually lived there wanted the roads, Commissioner Pat Mulieri said, so the commission approved the project.
With a number of the Embassy Hills homes belonging to landlords, Mulieri wonders if the same situation exists.
"I think this is kind of a trial run to listen to people to see if a majority of the actual people there want it," Mulieri said.
Residents such as Margaret Krebs don't. She pays property taxes and taxes on gasoline, and the Penny for Pasco sales tax increase kicks in next year. She wonders: Why can't those dollars pay for her streets?
"If they raise the taxes again, I'm out," Krebs said.
The gas tax dollars go toward fixing potholes and improving major roads, Hildebrand said, but there isn't enough money to repave the neighborhood streets across the county. Property taxes don't even go to roads, she said, and the Penny for Pasco money is earmarked for major roads that have far more drivers than neighborhood streets.
"Up north their streets were maintained," Hildebrand said of the retirees who flock to Florida, "but they paid a whole lot more in taxes."
The irony doesn't slip past Embassy Hills resident Rose Perez.
"They said (the road repaving is) going to upgrade our property - so they can raise our taxes, right?" said Perez, noting that higher property values mean a higher tax bill.
But administrator Gallagher thinks the investment is worth making. The County Commission will decide next week whether it agrees.
"To me, if the residents would do it, it's just a bargain," Gallagher said. "It really improves the look of the subdivision and increases the value of their home."
- Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is hall@sptimes.com