News

HART to cut tax rate, buses

The bus agency voted to lower HART's tax rate, despite what recent TRIM notices say.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD, Times Staff Writer
Published September 11, 2007

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A route 98 trolley bus leaves Harbour Island. Route 98 is in danger of being eliminated.
	[Chris Zuppa | Times]

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TAMPA - When Truth in Millage notices arrived in local mailboxes recently, Hillsborough's bus agency started getting calls from taxpayers asking a pointed question: Why are you raising taxes when everyone else is lowering them?

It got so bad that Hillsborough Area Regional Transit had to write a script for customer service employees, because the answer is a little complicated.

Despite what the notices say, HART isn't raising taxes. In fact, the board voted Monday evening to lower HART's tax rate, cut $4.6-million from its budget and eliminate three bus routes, including a little-used trolley that runs between downtown and Hyde Park Village.

It's also scaling back the 50-cent yellow trolleys that travel through downtown Tampa; those will soon run only from 6 to 9 a.m. and from 3 to 6 p.m., instead of all day until 9 p.m. The strategy is to kill off Hillsborough's least-used routes and trim unpopular hours from busier routes.

"This is not an organization that savors making this decision," board chairman Ricardo Roig said of the cuts. "It is not our goal to diminish or reduce transit in this community."

To comply with property tax cuts mandated by the state Legislature, HART rolled back its tax rate from a half-mill per year - where it has stayed for the last quarter-century - to 0.4495 mills.

A mill is $1 in tax for every $1,000 in appraised taxable property value. For example, the owner of a $225,000 home with a $25,000 homestead exemption will see HART's tax bill drop from $100 to about $90 next year.

So why do people think HART is raising their taxes? Because it looks that way on the TRIM notices mailed out last month.

The notices tell property owners what their tax bill could look like when it arrives later this year, and they show the bus agency charging taxpayers its usual half-mill, which would have increased HART's budget because property values went up.

HART put that number on the tax notices to "preserve the option" of staying at the same tax rate because a couple of board members had expressed interest in doing so, said Ed Crawford, HART's government affairs director. But that would have required a supermajority vote, three-fourths of HART's board. In the end, the board cut the tax rate.

Also Monday:

-The transit agency's board debated whether to seek a sales tax referendum in late 2008 or 2010 to replace HART's property tax and pay for a more elaborate mass transit system, possibly including rail. At issue: Should the county wait until a regional transit plan is in place before asking voters for a new sales tax? HART and other public officials will continue to discuss it.

-HART held bus tours of two future "bus rapid transit" routes that would feature more frequent buses, fewer stops and traffic signal controls to extend green lights. The first route, expected to run along Nebraska and Fletcher avenues, has $31-million in county funding and may start in 2009.

Mike Brassfield can be reached at 813 226-3435 or brassfield@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 10, 2007, 23:40:31]