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Efforts to make Ruskin a city dead for this year

Today is Day 37 of the 60-day session of the Florida Legislature.

By Times staff writer, Associated Press
Published April 12, 2006

Ruskin residents will not get to vote this fall on whether to become Hillsborough County's first new city since the 1920s, after lawmakers on Tuesday quickly dismissed a grass roots effort two years in the making.

Lawmakers decided financial questions could not get answered in the remaining month of the legislative session. The Legislature must approve the creation of a city in Florida. Only then can local voters decide the issue.

"This is not a dead issue, but it is dead for the year," said Rep. Ken Sorensen, R-Key Largo, chairman of the House panel that gave the issue about 15 minutes of consideration. "This bill is welcome to come back next year. They need to rework their financial plan."

But Senate President Tom Lee, R-Valrico, predicted it would be hard to muster support again. He said powerful opposing interests, including Hillsborough County, "sabotaged" the efforts of Ruskin citizens.

"This was a procedural mismatch between lay people - the Ruskin community - and some high-powered, sophisticated, experienced observers of the legislative process," said Lee, whose Hillsborough district includes Ruskin.

As new subdivisions transform the landscape in Ruskin, many residents worry their community is losing its unique identify. As a city, Ruskin could craft policy to its needs and have more control over the future. But it's a long road to incorporation in Hillsborough, whose only cities are Tampa, Plant City and Temple Terrace.

In Tallahassee, the debate barely got started.

Sponsor Rep. Ron Reagan, R-Bradenton, sponsor of HB 759, outlined the contentious issues. Two people spoke in opposition.

Sorensen voiced financial concerns based on a House analysis. "I don't want to kill your bill. It's an American right to have this potential for self-determination," Sorensen said, suggesting a procedural move to sidestep a vote on the bill, but "keep it alive."

"A lot of this stuff came at the last second," said Wade Clark, the local activist who chairs the Ruskin Incorporation Committee. "We'd be very open to that, yes."

The public discussion never got into the reasons Ruskin residents wanted to create a city of nearly 12,500 on the Tampa Bay waterfront.

"I'm a rookie. I don't know," Clark said of the outcome. He said it was too early to know if Ruskin will try again next year. "We're going to take a deep breath."

The bill's sponsor, Reagan, was surprised by the concerns on the House panel. None of the eight lawmakers represents Hillsborough.

Reagan said his first chance to look deeply into the state financial review came the night before. The House's analysis of the incorporation proposal came out Monday afternoon.

It indicated that a community-generated financial study differed greatly from the state's review. Ruskin's proposed expenses were substantially lower than those of similarly sized cities in Florida, although it's not clear if others used the same government model.

Ruskin planned to contract with the county for a variety of services, which Hillsborough provides to residents in unincorporated areas. A recent estimate for policing services came in three times higher than in the earlier community study.

Ruskin activists said the county has not responded to ongoing requests for updated information. County lobbyist Edith Stewart, who has opposed the effort, said residents didn't approach high-level administrators.

Lee charged that the county doomed the financial estimates. "They got sabotaged at the 11th hour by the very people who refused to provide the information they needed to begin with," Lee said.

County Commission Chairman Jim Norman was glad the incorporation didn't pass.

"I believe that the overall tax liability when you carve out a small area like that would be tremendous," he said, noting that the county wants to serve Ruskin. "I know that the county wants to give them great service."

-LETITIA STEIN

BRAIN TUMOR RESEARCH: The state would spend $500,000 to get a brain tumor research center going at the University of Florida under a measure approved by the House Health Care Appropriations Committee. The bill (HB 1449) sponsored by Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach, whose husband Jim Whalen died of a brain tumor, goes next to the House Health and Families Council.

NURSING HOME GENERATORS: The House Health Care Appropriations Committee approved a pilot project in five South Florida counties that would reimburse some nursing homes for upgrades enabling them to quickly activate generators to remain fully operational after hurricanes. Under HB 645, reimbursed homes would agree to accept at least 30 evacuees from other nursing homes.

-ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Last modified April 12, 2006, 01:06:10]