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Politics

County punts on road funding

By DAVID DECAMP
Published April 11, 2007

DADE CITY - The buck didn't stop with the County Commission on Tuesday. It'll have to wait two more weeks.

After a three-hour hearing, capping off nine months of study, the commissioners decided they could not decide whether to make Pasco's road impact fees among the state's highest, raise gas taxes and dip into property taxes to pay for a road funding shortage.

A county advisory board on Monday had recommended doubling the road impact fees to $8,000 for new homes starting in October, causing angst among developers. The same group suggested charging motorists an extra 5 cents a gallon at the pump and shifting roughly $25-million in property taxes to road construction.

Reluctant to raise taxes - Florida lawmakers want cuts - commissioners pressed hard for alternatives.

How about a sales tax increase, asked Commissioner Ted Schrader? Sorry, Pasco already maxed that out, county staffers said.

What about a bond issue, asked Commissioner Pat Mulieri? Not until the current bond issue, funded with gas tax money, is paid off in 2013, staffers said.

Perhaps some streetside donations plopped into a can? Well, no one actually brought that up.

Meanwhile, residents seated on wooden benches stewed, waiting hours to discuss plans to pave their roads.

Developers and business people begged for more time and smaller fees. County-paid consultants defended the recommendations. County Administrator John Gallagher pressed for direction ahead of a final vote April 24.

"Everybody has known about this for six to nine months, and you'll never get past the point where somebody says, 'Give us more time,' " Gallagher said.

He was right. They didn't.

Option 3. Option 3A. Phase-ins.

Credits. Targeted industries. Proportionate share.

It was too much to digest.

"We've got so many options to look at," Commissioner Jack Mariano said, "to actually tell staff what we want them to do."

Could a commissioner second a motion voting for a delay? "I'll give them a second," huffed a woman in the crowd.

The board voted 4-0 to delay decisions on the tax proposals until April 24, when another public hearing will be in New Port Richey. Commissioner Michael Cox had to leave in midafternoon to be part of the election canvassing board.

When David Knapp of Wesley Chapel stood to speak about 4:30 p.m. on a paving assessment, he told the board, "I was here at 1 p.m. The rigor mortis has set in."

Fast Facts:

What's next

The commission will make a final vote on the tax proposals on April 24.

[Last modified April 11, 2007, 08:33:16]