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Officials consider future of HARTline

In separate meetings this week, Temple Terrace council members and county commissioners could discuss financing for the bus agency.

By MICHAEL VAN SICKLER
Published August 16, 2005

By now, the question should be getting familiar for officials at the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority.

Do residents who pay taxes to help finance buses get a fair share back in services?

Tonight, the question comes from the Temple Terrace City Council. A few weeks ago, Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair was doing the asking.

And in a political climate cool to mass transit, the answer could decide the fate of the bus agency.

Two county commissioners, Blair and Ronda Storms, have long criticized HARTline for not serving the vast majority of residents in the unincorporated county, which pays about $16-million every year to the agency. Earlier this year, Blair and Storms said county voters should decide whether to keep paying.

The two haven't brought up this issue in weeks, but Storms placed an item called "The HARTline Referendum" on Wednesday's meeting agenda. No explanation accompanied the item, and Storms couldn't be reached Monday.

"A lot of people are speculating because there isn't a lot of information on this," said County Administrator Pat Bean. "Staff and board members have asked what this is about. I don't know."

Although HARTline executive director Ray Miller spoke with Storms last week, she didn't tell him about her plans to put a referendum item on the agenda, said the bus agency's spokesman, Ed Crawford.

"(Miller) will be there Wednesday, but he hasn't been told what this is about," Crawford said.

If commissioners decide to put the county's financing of HARTline on the ballot, much could change. If voters decide to stop paying HARTline taxes, which on a house of about $200,000 would cost about $100 without an exemption, then that would leave only two paying members: Tampa and Temple Terrace.

If one opts out, the agency would lose millions in federal grants, Crawford said.

"At that point, the agency ceases to exist," Crawford said.

With the encouragement of activist Ralph Hughes, who sells precast concrete to builders, Temple Terrace Councilman Frank Chillura toyed with opting out in 2001.

A referendum hasn't been brought up this year, said Temple Terrace Councilman Ken Holloway. But tonight's meeting with HARTline was prompted by Chillura, Holloway said.

A HARTline report states the bus agency spends more on Temple Terrace than it receives from its taxpayers.

Holloway said he agrees with that conclusion, and said it would be too expensive for Temple Terrace to start its own bus service.

"So many people have criticized HARTline in the last year, it's created this negative perception about it," Holloway said. "But these are misconceptions, and I think they'll be cleared up tonight. If we took HARTline away, we'd leave many people high and dry."

--Michael Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3402 or mvansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 16, 2005, 05:28:01]