Opinion: A test of Tampa priorities

Tampa's mayoral race is two years away, but the contours of the campaign will take shape in the coming weeks. That's when the city opens the debate on how to spend its Community Investment Tax revenue through 2006. Parks or sidewalks? Fire stations or roads? The choices made by three City Council members positioning to run will provide a glimpse of their priorities as mayor.

The half-cent, countywide tax provides the city about $11-million per year. Officials have broad discretion over spending, which makes the CIT, more so than other construction funds, a politically attractive tool to get big-ticket projects off the ground. Mayor Dick Greco has proposed a downtown arts district and new exhibits at the Lowry Park Zoo that could cost $4-million in annual debt payments, or one-third of the CIT budget for the next five years.

Three council members expected to run for mayor -- Bob Buckhorn, Rose Ferlita and Charlie Miranda -- face a fundamental choice: Blow the budget on cultural projects or invest more in the basic needs of ordinary neighborhoods -- roads, drainage, parks, fire stations and senior centers. Though Greco has not presented a formal budget to the board, it's worth remembering the CIT was sold to voters as a way to catch-up with basic and pressing needs. There was a lot of talk in 1996 about potholes and police radios. No one said anything about lions or zebras.

Though the mayor and council can tweak the spending even after a five-year plan is put into place, the budget serves nonetheless as a guidepost for the mayor, council and citizen groups. It represents -- more than any other document -- the city's commitment to the neighborhoods. Pinellas County lost credibility by overspending its Penny for Pinellas tax, and Tampa should avoid that mistake. Weakening signs in the economy are another reason to be cautious. Road work and equipment are easier to budget in a downturn. Large-scale projects are splashy, but they invariably require public money longer than expected.

The budget hearings that begin in March mark the unofficial start of the mayoral race. Indeed, much of the debate over the next five-year plan will be colored by what Greco and the council achieved and failed to accomplish the last five years. Council members will feel the pressure to continue the redevelopment of Ybor City and to strike a vision for downtown and the Garrison waterfront. It would be foolish to let those public investments die. Yet the need for more sidewalks, better streets and cleaner parks will loom as defining issues, and the job politically is to balance those competing funding needs. We're about to see what leadership awaits the city after Greco.

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