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Politics

Put half-cent bus tax on ballot, candidates say

At a Tiger Bay meeting, four candidates for the County Commission say they back a referendum.

By JANET ZINK
Published September 30, 2006

TAMPA - Chalk one - actually two - up for the county's bus system.

All four Hillsborough County Commission candidates at a Tiger Bay meeting on Friday said they would support a referendum on a half-cent sales tax to fund the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority. That would mean two commissioners in favor, no matter who wins the races.

Commissioners have twice rejected such a referendum in recent years.

That consensus largely defined the forum, which featured District 1 candidates Rose Ferlita and Mary Mulhern and District 3 opponents Ken Anthony and Kevin White. Ferlita and Anthony are Republicans; Mulhern and White are Democrats.

Could that portend the future of the commission, whose meetings in recent years have sometimes erupted into insults and rancor?

Maybe, Mulhern said in response to a question on just that topic.

With five seats open, there's a possibility to bring in new personalities.

"The other good news is Ronda's going to be gone," she said. Commissioner Ronda Storms, one of the most colorful and combative members of the board, is running for a state Senate seat.

All four candidates also said they felt the current County Commission is overstepping its bounds and wasting time and money on legislating adult businesses.

"We need to enforce the laws on the books," said Democrat Mulhern. "But I don't want my tax money spent on 92 lap dances in one establishment."

Anthony, a Republican, said the county has more important issues to focus on, before acknowledging that before he was married and started his insurance business he had visited the establishments run by Tampa strip club king Joe Redner.

Ferlita, also a Republican, said "Sometimes government gets too involved in the business of people instead of taking care of business for people."

In response to a question about how to continue providing essential services while responding to residents' pleas for lower taxes, only Mulhern offered specifics.

She named a $40-million sports complex, $1-million for a sound barrier wall around a Cheval neighborhood and $12-million earmarked for a Tampa Bay Buccaneers training facility as examples of wasteful spending. The sports complex and wall are pet projects of commission Chairman Jim Norman.

"There's a lot of room to get rid of these vanity projects," she said.

White, meanwhile, said transportation would be a top priority for him as a commissioner.

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or 813 226-3401.

[Last modified September 30, 2006, 06:36:15]