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How does district handle fallout?

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published March 14, 2006

A two-day series in the St. Petersburg Times about how the Hillsborough County School District often overpays when it acquires property for new schools concluded Monday, but the fallout from the investigation may be just beginning.

Staff writers Melanie Ave and Jeff Testerman wrote extensively about how district officials pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecessary commissions to real estate brokers. Although the school district is taking steps to correct the oversights, the information in the stories is certain to come up the next time School Board members meet with Hillsborough County commissioners to discuss increasing impact fees.

The school district is facing a construction shortfall of $419-million and is asking the commission to raise developers' impact fees to help make up the shortfall. Last month, the commission delayed raising impact fees until after the current legislative session because it wants to see how much the school district receives in state funds.

At least one commissioner, Brian Blair, suggested the school district needed to do some "belt-tightening" before asking for more money. It's not a great leap in logic to suggest Blair and some of the other county commissioners figuratively will roll up the newspaper report and use it to whack school board members across the nose.

The stories also put a dent in the chances of the school district passing a half-cent sales tax, an idea that was already tenuous.

It's true that the school district needs to show it's a better steward of tax dollars, but it's a stretch to suggest the crisis doesn't demand some serious changes from both the district and the commission. After all, it's been a staggering 20 years since impact fees have been increased, and for now, they remain the lowest in the state.

It's also worth noting that the school district already is shoring up the inefficiencies in its land acquisition practices.

Still, the stakes have been raised and the School Board will have to be even more convincing when the impact fee issue arises again in May.

Kudos to Beef "O' Brady's, which kicked off the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope's annual fundraising drive Monday with a $25,000 check.

Beef "O' Brady's chief executive officer Chuck Winship serves as chair of the board of directors for the academy, which has a special program to increase the academic performance of at-risk middle and high school students.

Also on hand to lend support was Bob Conigliaro, vice president of Tampa's Caspers Co., which owns more than 70 McDonald's restaurants in Florida. Conigliaro said his group has supported the academy since its inception in 1996.

James Evans, the academy's executive director, said the pledge drive is slated to conclude in June with the academy's annual Harvest of Hope gala.

After the City Council gave landmark status to the facades of the old Newberry and Woolworth buildings in downtown Tampa, the Doran Jason Group all but declared dead its plans to develop the N Franklin Street block that includes the historic Kress building.

It was a troubling development because Doran Jason was one of the few downtown condominium developers talking about including obtainable housing in its project.

Obtainable housing is vital to creating the kind of vibrant downtown we need in Tampa. Having residential living for downtown's work force will make the area more attractive for corporations.

One of the steps to reducing the parking crunch in Tampa is creating an environment where more people can walk to work.

It will be a sad chapter in the upbeat stories about downtown revitalization if the Kress block plans end on this sorry note. Both council members and the Doran Jason developers need to get together and work on some kind of compromise.

This project could be the difference between a diverse, high-energy downtown and a downtown full of high-priced condo dwellers who seldom come out to play at night.

That's all I'm saying.

--Ernest Hooper can be reached at 813-226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 14, 2006, 00:53:05]