County must sell penny tax plan

The key to getting a 1-cent sales tax passed in a November 2002 referendum, supporters say, is crafting a list of projects that appeal to a broad spectrum of voters.

By JAMES THORNER

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 1, 2001

Pasco County commissioners are about to embark on a mission in which success is far from certain.

The mission is this: Persuade a couple hundred thousand Pasco residents to pay another 1-percent tax on purchases such as cars, clothing and restaurant meals.

In return, commissioners promise an abundance of new parks, roads, bicycle trails, schools, libraries and fire stations.

The Penny for Pasco plan to raise the county's sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent re-emerged with new urgency with last week's defeat of a new property tax to pay for parks.

Commissioners want to place the penny proposal before the voters on a November 2002 referendum, a method of self-imposed taxation that has recently flopped before the county's anti-tax electorate.

Pasco voters, many of whom moved to Florida to escape high taxes up north, defeated by an almost 4-1 ratio a September 1998 property tax increase to benefit the Sheriff's Office.

A 1-cent sales tax for school construction was rejected in September 1995 by nearly two-thirds of the voters.

At the urging of commissioners, County Administrator John Gallagher plans to hold five public hearings this summer, a traveling road show to collect and share suggestions on how to spend the anticipated $22-million in yearly Penny for Pasco proceeds.

The tentative meeting locations are Hudson, Holiday, Land O'Lakes, Dade City and Zephyrhills.

Some of the suggested uses for the sales tax money are designed to get voters chomping at the bit: superparks in Wesley Chapel and Odessa, bike trails in Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park, boat launches on the Gulf of Mexico, fire stations in quickly developing central Pasco, asphalt paving for rural residents choking on limerock dust.

Gallagher said the key to winning voter approval is a well-coordinated pro-tax campaign uniting county commissioners, School Board members, sheriff's deputies and parks and library supporters.

"It all depends on the campaign," Gallagher said. "If everyone gets involved and everyone is enthusiastic, I think we'll have great success."

But one local government expert, University of South Florida political science professor Susan MacManus, isn't so certain of success. MacManus thinks the timing is poor for so ambitious a referendum.

"I think it's an uphill climb in light of the emphasis on tax cutting, the economy not being at its best and the county's older population," said MacManus, who lives in Land O'Lakes. "You put the three together, and it's hard to pass new taxes."

Supporters of Penny for Pasco point to the success of the penny sales tax increase in Pinellas County and a half-cent increase in Hillsborough County.

The extra revenue has helped build projects such as Tampa's Raymond James Stadium and Pinellas' 40-mile network of bicycle and walking trails.

Another selling point of Penny for Pasco: The county would collect a good chunk of the tax from non-Pasco people visiting the county's restaurants, hotels, gas stations and antique shops. Vital purchases such as food and medicine are exempt from the tax.

Last week, commissioners, in defeating 3-to-2 a 0.25-mill special property tax for parks, handed Penny for Pasco its biggest boost to date.

The property tax was supposed to pay for $20-million out of $40-million worth of new parks outlined in a consultant's study.

Immediately after he helped kill the property tax plan, Commissioner Ted Schrader cast his lot with Penny for Pasco.

To make the sales tax increase more politically palatable, Schrader suggested a "sunset" provision: letting the tax expire after no longer than three years.

The idea appealed to commission Chairman Steve Simon, who said he preferred one sweeping sales tax to a series of little taxes.

Commissioner Ann Hildebrand, on the losing end of the park property tax vote, also latched onto Schrader's idea.

"If there was a good side of the property tax vote, at least we got consensus to support a sales tax," Hildebrand said.

Commissioner Peter Altman, whose idea it was to pass the park tax, said Penny for Pasco could succeed if the wish list of projects was crafted to appeal to voters' passions.

Altman said a half-cent sales tax approved by referendum last year in Jacksonville promised no money for schools.

Logic loomed behind that decision: Many elderly voters, whose children are grown, resent paying for schools. Other voters insist state taxes should pay for school construction.

MacManus said research confirms that people support sales tax initiatives when they believe the money will improve parks and the environment, two quality of life issues to which voters relate.

Altman agreed: "It's going to take some hard work on everybody's part to demonstrate to voters that this decision will benefit them more than it will hurt them in the pocketbook."

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