City officials ask the commission to decide what work should be done in an effort to determine how much the city must pay the state DOT.
By RICHARD DANIELSON
Published April 15, 2004
TARPON SPRINGS - Talk about your nervy decisions: city officials have to think about writing a big check later this year for some much-desired road work and public works improvements in downtown Tarpon Springs.
Depending on exactly what the city wants, officials could have to cut a check to the Florida Department of Transportation for up to $5-million or $6-million.
That money would go to cover the costs of aesthetic enhancements and other amenities the city wants to add to a job to repave Pinellas and Tarpon avenues through downtown Tarpon Springs.
But there's a catch. While the city is seeking grants and money from state, federal and other sources to help pay for the project, officials almost certainly will have to commit to paying for the extras on their wish list before they know exactly where all the money will come from.
That's the dilemma city commissioners have already discussed at length once this month and plan to take up again when they meet next Tuesday.
"I'm sure we're going to get some dollars," Mayor Beverley Billiris said during a commission discussion last week. "We just not sure what" the source of the money will be. "We're going out banging on doors."
So far, those doors have included the Florida Legislature and the Pinellas County Metropolitan Planning Organization, the county's chief road-planning agency.
In the meantime, city officials have asked commissioners to start ranking their priorities for the road work.
"The sooner we can start getting our ducks in a row, the better off we're going to be," City Manager Ellen Posivach told commissioners.
City officials have estimated amenities and enhancements requested by the city could account for $6.1-million out of a total project cost of $10.2-million.
The big-ticket items on the city's wish list include:
$1.5-million to replace aging water and sewer lines underneath the roads. City officials say doing the repair work now could be a lot less expensive and disruptive than it would be to wait a few years for a line to break.
$1.5-million to bury and move some overhead power lines, which are considered a big source of visual blight, especially on N Pinellas Avenue.
$596,000 to extend the repaving of Tarpon Avenue east of Huey Avenue to U.S. 19. City officials thought this was originally part of the repaving plan, but later learned the DOT considers that portion of Tarpon Avenue to be part of the U.S. 19 corridor.
The rest of the additional cost could go for amenities such as street lights, lighting for trees along the road, brick sidewalk accents, bike racks, attractive benches and trash cans, irrigation, planters, shrubs and trees. The city also would have to put in 10 percent of the cost of the items it seeks as a contingency.
So far, commissioners have set few specific priorities, but they do seem to agree on one thing. If power lines are buried or moved, they say, then the city, not property owners, should have to pay to hook up to the new lines. In the past, officials have said that could cost residents hundreds of dollars and businesses up to $2,000.
Passing that bill on to the 35 to 40 property owners who would have to reconnect their electric service wouldn't be right, Billiris said.
"It's a hardship that we're creating for these people," she said.
Officials estimate that absorbing the reconnection costs would cost the city about $80,000.
Meanwhile, city commissioners have to determine which project add-ons they really want, which they could delay and which they could live without entirely. Landscaping has come up as one thing that could be added in later, if necessary.
As commissioners set their priorities, their staff is working on where they could find at least some of the money if the city would have to pay DOT before other funding sources got lined up.
In a memo Tuesday, Posivach told commissioners that her staff is "vigorously pursuing" funding sources for the project. She said there is a little more than $2-million available for the project from the gas tax, transportation impact fee funds and Penny for Pinellas sales tax during the current fiscal year. Over the next four years, the city expects to get another $3.7-million from the Penny for Pinellas that could be used for the project.
The city also has a surplus of nearly $4.97-million, but during last week's discussion Posivach was leery of depleting those reserves.
"If you wanted to, you could take some money out of there," she told commissioners. "I'm not sure I'd recommend that."
One possibility would be to borrow the money needed from the city's surplus and repay it with money from the Penny for Pinellas, she said.
City officials say they will have to commit soon to paying the the state DOT for the extra work in December. State road officials plan to go out for bids in January and have pressed the city to make a commitment as soon as possible.
"They wanted it about two months ago," said city business services specialist Charlie Attardo.
