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Tax collector seeks ads to pay for holders

Doug Belden wants businesses to pay for organizers that could be used for car, boat and mobile home registration and insurance information.

By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published October 19, 2005

TAMPA - When was the last time you easily found anything in your car's glove compartment?

Somewhere beneath the stack of napkins, next to those unpaid parking tickets is an important piece of paper no bigger than a post card - your vehicle registration.

Hillsborough County Tax Collector Doug Belden has an idea to help - but it hinges on an unusual business sponsorship of government services that would be new to his agency.

Belden is seeking private business sponsors to pay for a color, trifold document holder to distribute free for people to keep their car registration, boat and mobile home registrations, and insurance information in an accessible place. Sponsor businesses would have their name or logo on the backs of the 800,000 document holders Belden initially wants to print. Belden's name gets the space on the front.

"I think this is the wave of the future," Belden said of asking private industry to pay for a public service through advertisement sales.

He said that as budgets get tighter, government agencies are looking for innovative ways to generate revenue. But he doesn't want the public to confuse a paid advertisement with a government agency as a sign of government's endorsement, Belden said.

"Absolutely not," he said. "This is nothing more than sponsorships. This is a good example of the public and private sector working together."

Helen Jones, a spokeswoman for the state ethics commission, said that as long as the solicitation doesn't influence any votes and no gifts are accepted by someone considered a lobbyist for the agency and then used for personal benefit, there's no ethical problem with Belden's plan.

Belden said he would give preference to potential sponsors that do business similar to that of the tax collector, such as banking or automobile, boat or homeowner's insurance. The trifold also would include information about the tax collector's office like office hours, location and phone numbers.

Belden got the idea from Charles Sembler, tax collector in Indian River County. Sembler has been using the concept for two years.

"I came up with the idea rifling through my own glove box and trying to find the registration," said Sembler. "I said, "This is ridiculous. There has got to be a better way."'

Sembler said he called a few friends in the private sector with his idea, and it took off. A much smaller county than Hillsborough, Indian River prints only 100,000 document holders a year, Sembler said.

It cost Indian River about $13,000 to provide the document holders. Sembler said a local bank supplied all the money, becoming the sole sponsor.

Belden estimated it will cost Hillsborough $56,000 to provide 800,000 document holders.

"We will not do it unless we get all the money," Belden said. "We will not spend a dime of taxpayers' money."

Sponsors are also being sought to pay for distribution of colorful laminated charts that identify the state's saltwater and freshwater fish and list the rules and limits associated with fishing in Florida. A sponsor logo will also go on the charts, but Belden said that sponsor logos will not appear on official tax collector documents.

The request for sponsors went out a little more than a week ago. Preston Trigg, a spokesman for the Hillsborough tax collector, said Friday that he still hadn't received his first application. Businesses have until Monday to apply.

Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 19, 2005, 00:29:13]