Northpinellas: Penny shortfall hearings suggested

CLEARWATER -- Pinellas County Commissioner Karen Seel wants to hold a series of town meetings so the public can help the county reprioritize Penny for Pinellas projects for the next 10 years.

And she wants the county to pass an ordinance requiring a public hearing whenever a new project is added, or a change is made to an existing project, that will cost $500,000 or more.

Her request to her fellow commissioners comes after news last week that the county will need to cut as much as $162-million from projects in the next 10 years because of overspending on earlier projects and the addition of new projects. She described her suggestions as "balancing the books with the public's input."

"I feel it's fair that if we're not going to finish some of the projects in the 10 years, the public should be given some kind of process for input," she said.

Before voters approved the second Penny for Pinellas 10-year sales tax in 1997, the county distributed a list of projects it intended to complete with Penny, which is expected to generate $716-million. Last week, county officials recommended removing $53-million of road projects from the list to address the looming shortfall. Other county departments are preparing similar lists of projects to be eliminated or delayed.

Seel also has requested a detailed cost analysis of all existing projects, similar to an earlier request made by Commissioner Barbara Sheen Todd. The county staff is expected to give the commission an overview of the Penny for Pinellas projects in the next 30 days.

A handful of residents, meanwhile, have written commissioners about the shortfall. Treasure Island resident Evan Adams told commissioner John Morroni that he is "disturbed at what appears to be a candy store mentality."

Residents Caryl and Walter Stecher of Tarpon Springs wrote to commissioner Robert Stewart, "Where is your accountability to the Pinellas County taxpayers, spending these extra "pennies'? We feel you all owe all of us an explanation and a promise that you will ask voter approval for such expensive and unnecessary improvements."

County Commission Chairman Calvin Harris said he does not see the need for either of Seel's suggestions, although he said the commission can improve communication about Penny. The Penny projects are already set to a timetable, he said, and are discussed every year during public budget hearings.

On Seel's suggested ordinance, Harris pointed to the jail and criminal courts complex, which cost $35-million more than what was originally budgeted.

"How many times would we have had a hearing?" he said. "There hasn't been a single expenditure from the Penny the commission didn't approve. . . . To put another layer on it is kind of redundant."

Anyone who will benefit from a Penny project would like to see the project moved up the priority list, Harris said. Holding town meetings to reprioritize projects, he said, would create more harm than good.

"It would become a pep rally," he said. "Whoever could get the most people in could change the process. That's not good government."

Seel said her suggestions are not meant to belabor the process. She said she envisions publicly publishing the overview of all the Penny projects, then perhaps holding three meetings -- one each in north, mid and south county -- to gather public input about the projects.

"Maybe they don't want to see beautification as their highest priority; maybe they want us to change some of our future priorities," Seel said. "Maybe at this point they feel we've acquired enough preserved land and would rather see us get some of the roads done faster."

The point, she said, is for the commission to be accountable to the public.

"We asked them to vote for it," Seel said. "We asked them to trust us. We owe them accountability."

Back to North Pinellas news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Mary Jo Melone

Howard Troxler

From the Times
North Pinellas desks