Northpinellas: Co-op funding renews tax district debate

East Lake 2000 director and general counsel Bryan Kutchins recently sent a letter to County Commissioner Susan Latvala stating the group's intent to explore plans either to create a separate East Lake taxing district or to expand the Palm Harbor taxing district to include East Lake.

The idea is to keep local tax dollars local.

East Lake residents pay the county a half-mill in property taxes -- or 50 cents in property taxes for every $1,000 of assessed, non-exempt property value -- to participate in the library cooperative. In all, East Lake residents pay more than $800,000 per year, yet last year the East Lake Library received just $200,000 from the co-op.

By creating a taxing district and taxing residents that same half-mill, Kutchins argues, East Lake could keep all of the proceeds and split it between library and recreation, much like Palm Harbor does.

It seems like a pretty straightforward proposal. Same tax, more benefits.

But the plan includes the crucial assumption that if East Lake creates its own taxing district, its residents would no longer have to pay into the library co-op.

That may be a bad assumption, Latvala said.

County Attorney Susan Churuti has concluded that East Lake would still be obligated to pay into the library co-op, Latvala said. The only way to get out, Latvala said, would be through a countywide referendum. Residents outside of East Lake would be unlikely to vote to let East Lake, and its dollars, out of the co-op, she said.

The debate over an East Lake taxing district is nothing new. It has been defeated twice in referendums.

The debate was rekindled amid the controversy over funding from the co-op to the East Lake Library. Several members of the co-op complained that East Lake, which was not a member when the co-op was created, should not receive co-op funds. The co-op was created to allow residents in unincorporated areas of Pinellas County access to all of the county's libraries. Residents in unincorporated Pinellas pay a half-mill of property tax each year for that privilege.

The lone exception is unincorporated Palm Harbor, which had created its own taxing district prior to the creation of the co-op. Residents in Palm Harbor do not pay into the co-op, but they do pay a half-mill to the Palm Harbor Community Services Agency, which splits its revenue between its library and recreation.

That is the arrangement East Lake now wants.

But Latvala said that option passed when the countywide referendum created the co-op with East Lake as a contributing member.

East Lake 2000 Chairman Dan Bobel and Kutchins, an attorney, aren't convinced that is true.

"I think it's possible (to get out of the co-op)," Bobel said. "There's got to be a way of getting around this thing."

The bottom line, Bobel said, is getting East Lake its fair share. Right now, he said, East Lake is the county's cash cow.

"Taxation equality. That's what we're looking for," he said.

Kutchins said East Lake 2000 is studying its options.

"We are remaining open-minded," he said.

The group plans to hold a series of public meetings once it decides which course to pursue, he said.

If the group moves ahead with plans to try to create a taxing district for library and recreation, it will get a fight, said Chuck Schult, a former East Lake fire commissioner and leader in the Citizens Action League, a group that opposed previous attempts to create a taxing district.

Schult vowed he and others would form a committee to oppose any move to create a taxing district.

"It's just not going to work," Schult said. "I just don't see the need for it."

Schult said the plan amounts to more taxes because any East Lake levy would be in addition to the co-op taxes. East Lake residents won't support it, he said.

"This (taxing unit) is all smoke," Schult said.

Taxes might start at a quarter- or half-mill, he said, but they would certainly rise over the years.

"They're going to tax us and tax us and tax us," Schult warned.

"We're not talking additional taxes," Bobel countered. "We're talking about tax re-distribution."

Don Flynn, vice president of East Lake 2000, said that it is too soon to tell which direction the group might take.

Flynn said East Lake 2000 stepped up its efforts when the library co-op recently tried to retrieve $50,000 it had given the East Lake Library for the first quarter. The County Commission later directed the co-op to continue payments to the East Lake Library for $200,000 this year.

That is just a one-year arrangement, Latvala said. The county is currently working on a new co-op funding formula that will include East Lake. And the county plans to commit operating funds from the county's general fund to the East Lake Library.

That is good news, Flynn said.

The other good news is that there appears to be strong sentiment on the County Commission to finance active recreation, such as ball parks and soccer fields. The Upper Pinellas Youth Sports Association, a private organization, is woefully underfunded, Flynn said. Parents cut the grass and mend the fences, and participation fees are unreasonably high.

If the county should make appropriate active recreation contributions as well as increase the funding for the East Lake Library, the creation of a taxing unit in East Lake may not be necessary, Flynn said.

But in a letter to Latvala on Jan. 29, Kutchins states that, while those measures are "a positive step in the right direction," East Lake 2000 "remains of the opinion that an East Lake (taxing district) similar to Palm Harbor's, addressing both library and recreation, is best suited for the East Lake community and for the tax equity of our residents."

Kutchins and others think that the East Lake Library ought to be expanded to four times its current size to meet the community's needs. And that will take more funding than it will get from the co-op or the county, he said.

"We've got a wonderful, but woefully small, library for the size of the community," Kutchins said.

Kutchins thinks if the taxing district plan receives support in a series of public meetings, the County Commission ought to create the taxing district with a majority vote of the board rather than putting the issue on a referendum.

Latvala said that isn't likely to happen. She thinks the issue would have to go to a referendum. It might take two years to get on the ballot, she said, and another year to collect funds. East Lake Library's needs are more immediate, she said.

Besides, she said, "it would never pass if they were not able to get out from under the co-op funding."

- Staff writer Robert Farley can be reached at (727) 445-4185 or farley@sptimes.com.

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