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Voters got to polls today in Tarpon Springs

A low turnout is expected for today's election because no candidates are on the ballot - only referendum items.

By ROBIN STEIN
Published March 14, 2006

TARPON SPRINGS - Voters today will make two key decisions affecting the city's four-year effort to create an independent city water supply system.

In one referendum, city officials are asking voters for permission to borrow as much as $45-million on the bond market for the project.

In a second, officials are seeking voter approval to buy the land needed for a new reverse-osmosis water treatment plant.

Although the results could have long-range effects, a small percentage of voters might end up setting the course for the city.

There are 15,954 Tarpon Springs citizens registered to vote in today's election, but only a small fraction is likely to make it to the polls, City Clerk Irene Jacobs said.

Mayoral races typically draw 20 to 30 percent of registered voters, Jacobs said, and even fewer turn out for City Commission contests.

Jacobs said voters are less inclined to get to the polls for elections like today's, when the ballot is exclusively dedicated to referendum items.

"If we get 15 percent, we'll be lucky," Jacobs said.

Less than 12 percent of voters turned out in 1997, the last time city elections were conducted without a race for public office.

Still, thousands of citizens will be stopping by one of the 11 precincts from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today. What may bolster turnout is city officials' aggressive efforts to publicize the referendum items during the past month.

Most city voters will decide five questions. The first two concern a proposed reverse-osmosis plant that city officials project would enable Tarpon Springs to become self-sufficient in drinking water production and to acquire land for the project.

Questions 4, 5 and 6 request voters to authorize the sale of three city-owned parcels, land that officials said offer "no use in the foreseeable future." The City Commission would still have to approve each sale, but officials said selling the properties could generate several hundred thousand dollars.

The first, 1.1 acres on Lemon Street that houses the old fire station, has caught the attention of several developers interested in building mixed-use projects close to downtown, city officials said.

And the city has no future plans for a vacant 1-acre plot adjacent to the Tarpon Springs Golf Course, north of Curlew Place, which officials proposed selling to a residential developer.

There is no street access to the third parcel, 7.2 acres along the Pinellas Trail north of Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital. Much of the property is covered by wetlands, making it off-limits for construction. But the owner of the adjacent property has expressed interest in putting a mixed-use project with homes and shops on the buildable part of the property.

Voters in Precinct 710 will consider a different question: whether to approve the annexation of the Leisure Lake Village subdivision and Leisure Lake condominium into Tarpon Springs.

After the electronic voting machines are powered down, election workers will seal the computer cartridges that store the votes and carry them to City Hall, Jacobs said. A Pinellas County sheriff's deputy will be waiting to take them to the Supervisor of Elections Service Center in Clearwater for an unofficial tally. Voters can watch the results as they are tabulated on www.votepinellas.com

"If everything goes well, we should have the unofficial results by 9 to 9:30," she said.

By Saturday, the official results, including all provisional ballots, should be tabulated.

--Robin Stein can be reached at rstein@sptimes.com or 727 445-4157.

[Last modified March 14, 2006, 18:34:33]