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Florida Legislature 2005 (click for ongoing coverage)

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Bush wants $9.5-billion for roads

The governor also wants to make it easier for counties to raise taxes, which some see as passing the buck.

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published April 14, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush unveiled a growth management proposal Wednesday that would ask voters to approve $9.5-billion to build roads over the next decade.

Bush also wants the Legislature to make it easier for counties to raise taxes for construction of schools and water systems.

The road-building plan won immediate support, even though it would require voter approval in a statewide election.

But easing the way for higher local taxes drew immediate resistance from legislators and local officials across the Tampa Bay region.

Some lawmakers are unwilling to be seen as favoring higher taxes, and some county commissioners accused the state of "passing the buck" to taxpayers.

The governor sent the growth management plan to lawmakers two days after they learned of an unprecedented $2.2-billion windfall in state tax collections thanks to a surging economy.

But Florida also attracts about 1,000 new residents every day and is on a path to become the nation's third-most populous state. The rapid urbanization threatens to make sprawl, gridlock and school crowding worse in the years ahead.

Under the governor's plan, $1-billion of the extra money would be set aside for roads now, and a statewide referendum would be held in November for a 10-year borrowing program for highways, bridges, mass transit, airports and seaports.

The borrowing needs voter approval under the Florida Constitution because the debt would be guaranteed by state tax dollars.

Bush also wants firm deadlines by which roads, schools and water supplies would have to be in place. For example, water supplies would have to be available when a project is approved for construction.

The most controversial aspect of Bush's plan asks lawmakers to change state law so counties could raise local-option taxes by a super-majority vote of a county commission without a referendum. A super-majority is more than a majority but varies depending on the size of the commission. For example, a super majority for a seven-member commission, such as those in Pinellas and Hillsborough, would require five affirmative votes instead of four. A super majority on a five-member panel would require four votes.

Bush cited $5.3-billion in "unrealized tax sources" that counties could collect but have not.

"I'm prepared to put aside a deeply held belief about voter approval of taxes at the local level for these issues in order to bring about a better balance for planning," Bush said. "Local government ought to be able to access this money easier."

The idea breaks an early Bush campaign promise.

In his losing 1994 campaign for governor, Bush declared: "I want to give the power over this issue back to the voters so that they can have the right to approve all tax increases."

Rep. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, the House majority leader, said letting counties raise taxes without a referendum will have problems in the House, where 84 of the 120 members are Republicans.

"Of all the proposals being put forward, that one is probably the one that causes the most heartburn and concern from the membership," Gardiner said. "I like the idea of referendums where the voters are deciding for themselves if they want to tax themselves. I think there's going to be some strong reluctance, but we're going to hear the governor out."

Gardiner is one of several dozen legislators who have signed a Taxpayer Protection Pledge with a nationwide group, Americans for Tax Reform. The pledge is seen as a seal of approval for candidates seeking to burnish their credentials as fiscal conservatives.

When Gardiner signed the pledge in February, the group issued a statement: "By signing the pledge he commits to oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes."

County leaders were more critical.

"It's our state officials passing the buck down to the local level, so they can say, "Oh, well, we don't raise taxes,"' said Democratic Hernando County Commissioner Diane Rowden. "They force people at the lower level to fix the messes they create, and then we're left holding the bag."

Over the past decade, Hernando officials have lowered the property tax rate and voters have repeatedly rejected proposed sales tax increases. In 1998, voters approved a gas tax increase to rebuild and repave local roads.

Pinellas Commissioner Ken Welch said Bush should explore statewide tax options before shifting more burden to local governments.

"State lawmakers need to look at their revenue capacity, look at where they are not collecting revenues where they could be," said Welch, who cited sales tax exemptions as a possible source.

Welch, a Democrat, cited $90-million in juvenile justice costs shifted to counties last year and noted that Pinellas voters raised local taxes last fall to pay higher teacher salaries.

Republican Citrus County Commission Chairwoman Vicki Phillips said she was bothered by Bush's plan, which she said made counties the villains because they would have to raise taxes while the state could just ask voters for money for state road projects.

Phillips called it another cost-shift to local governments, and said the proposal wrests power from communities on how to best manage growth.

Bush said managing growth is mainly a local responsibility. Counties and cities allow growth that adds to the demand on schools, water and sewer systems and pour hundreds of thousands of cars onto clogged roads.

Bush said he set the road program at $9.5-billion to stay within the state's self-imposed ceiling of borrowing no more than 6 percent of the money it takes in each year.

The amount for roads proposed by Bush is about one-third of the statewide need cited by Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, and it doesn't identify a permanent source of money for growth-related needs as Lee wants.

Lee, a home builder and the Legislature's leading advocate for confronting growth problems, has said Florida must spend $23-billion over the next decade to keep traffic at current levels.

--Times staff writers Justin George, Bridget Hall Grumet, Jennifer Liberto and Michael Sandler and researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.

[Last modified April 15, 2005, 19:30:09]