Approving plans for a community center raises questions about whether the city can afford other things on its wish list.
By MEGAN SCOTT
Published August 20, 2004
DUNEDIN - A city is like most households: You can write checks only for what you have in the bank. And credit cards go only so far.
So Dunedin has had to set some spending priorities.
The early winners: the $2.8-million King Center and the $9.5-million community center. Less certain is the fate of a consolidated municipal services center.
"I think the community center and King Center - those are not wants," said Commissioner Deborah Kynes. "They are truly needed."
Commissioners this week approved moving forward with the proposed 54,000-square-foot community center at Highlander Park. They are planning to use Penny for Pinellas to fund the project. The interest rate is low: 4.2 percent on a 20-year loan.
But the decision has raised questions about whether the city can afford everything else on its wish list.
When the Penny for Pinellas expires in 2010, Dunedin will have about $3.8-million left in its Penny fund. The combined outstanding debt on the centers will be $9.5-million.
"If Penny for Pinellas is not reinstated, every municipality is going to be really hurting," Kynes said. "That is major capital money. You try to say if this occurs, what's your backup?"
Last year, Dunedin officials raved about the idea of a consolidated government center. They purchased 4.1 acres near Main Street and Skinner Boulevard to build the 36,000-square-foot one-stop shop: City Hall, Municipal Services and Technical Services under the same roof.
The land purchase came with a $2.1-million price tag. The total cost for the building was estimated to be between $8.75-million and $9.5-million. The plan again was to use Penny for Pinellas funds.
But the piggy bank is not endless. So the city has halted its plans to build a one-stop shop, at least for now.
"We are not doing anything with that land," said budget director Dan Zantop. "We are putting a hold on the government center. If the Penny did not get extended, we could possibly still sell the land."
City officials maintain that purchasing the property was the right thing to do. The three buildings on the site have been leased to izone.com, a company that sells games on the Internet, Morton Plant Mease Health Services and Pelican Bay, which makes gift baskets.
The rental agreements bring in about $75,000 a year, minus expenses - enough to pay the interest on the loan.
If they do have to sell the property, the city should make a profit, officials said. In that case, they believe a mixed-use development would likely be built there.
"I think it was an excellent investment," said City Manager John Lawrence. "We've got the three buildings leased out, so that's covering the interest. The key thing is having control of the land. Because we control the land, we can control what goes there."
Commissioner Bob Hackworth is not so sure.
He was the only commissioner to vote against purchasing the land last year. One of his concerns was that Dunedin was essentially buying back land it once owned at a substantially higher price.
In 1996, Dunedin commissioners sold a 0.5-acre plot on Milwaukee Avenue to the Shapiro family for $24,000. Then last year, the commission bought the 4.1 acres that included that half-acre. The total price was $2.1-million., approaching $300,000 per half-acre.
"Yes, we're generating revenue from rents," Hackworth said. "But then we also have expenses and our biggest expense is the $2.1-million loan. It's just not the most efficient use of those dollars even if you are generating revenues out of it."
Hackworth also questions the need to plan a new City Hall just two years after the city spent more than $300,000 replacing the roof, installing new electrical and air-conditioning systems and adding a television studio to the existing facility.
But the other commissioners see a need for a one-stop shop.
The City Hall and two other city facilities are cramped, with a combined 28,000 square feet. And each has its own problems, such as limited parking at Municipal Services and a City Hall entrance that doesn't fit in with the look of downtown Dunedin.
Economic development director Bob Ironsmith said that if the city sells the land, it will be much harder to find a location for a consolidated government center.
Land prices are going up. And like the rest of Pinellas County, Dunedin is pretty much built out, he said.
"In order to do it you would have to buy up individual properties," Ironsmith said. "I guess we would have to remodel some of the facilities we're in."
