Seniors' tax break ends up a bargain

By Compiled by SHARON KENNEDY WYNNE

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 9, 2000

TAMPA -- While most local governments in Tampa Bay avoided a new tax break for the elderly poor like a bad rash, Hillsborough County embraced the cut and prepared to lose $4-million from its budget this year. The state estimated an even higher loss of $5-million.

It didn't happen.

In its first year, the county lost only $620,000 when 5,167 senior citizens received the property tax exemption.

As the deadline approached last year to pass the tax break, officials in Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties decided the new exemption would cost government too much.

In Hillsborough, half as many people as expected applied for the tax break. Property owners over the age of 65 who live on an annual household income of less than $20,000 qualify for a tax break on part of the second $25,000 in value of their homesteads.

"The impact on county programs is marginal," said Assistant County Administrator Ed Hunzeker, who oversees the county's finances, "and that would be over the long run."

Still, Pinellas officials, who estimated the tax break would cost about $8-million a year, don't expect to bring it up again any time soon.

"We have a much, much higher percentage of retirees" than Hillsborough, Pinellas County Administrator Fred Marquis said.

Hulk Hogan ad thrown out of Clearwater political arena

CLEARWATER -- Hulk Hogan joined the tag team of Clearwater's downtown redevelopment forces by appearing in a television ad. But like wrestling, what you saw wasn't always real.

"The plan will improve the quality of life for everyone in Clearwater," Hogan says in the ad, referring to Tuesday's city referendum on a complex downtown redevelopment plan. "That's why I'm voting yes."

Or at least, Hulk would if he could.

The political ad was smacked down Monday because Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, lives in an 18,000-square-foot mansion in Belleair. Therefore, he is not eligible to vote in Clearwater.

The chamber of commerce pulled the ad when a reporter pointed out the error.

On Tuesday, voters will be asked to lease city land downtown to developers for up to 99 years at $1 per year to spur a redevelopment plan with new shops, housing and a movie theater downtown.

While backers of the plan called the Hulk Hogan ad an unintentional mistake, they blasted the group Save the Bayfront for fliers full of what they claim is innuendo and inaccuracies, such as accusing the developers of trying to get a lease for the city's downtown land and "spin it off to a Scientology-controlled front group."

Cyclists jump the gun on Suncoast Parkway trail

NEW PORT RICHEY -- The Suncoast Parkway will not open early, as the Florida Turnpike District previously suggested, but the parallel bike trail might as well be since so many bicyclists are already using it.

The four- to six-lane parkway stretches 42 miles from the Veterans Expressway in Hillsborough County to the Hernando-Citrus county line.

The stretch of the Suncoast Parkway in Pasco County is just about completed between County Line Road and State Road 50. Instead of opening early, it will open with the rest of the parkway, probably in January.

"It was determined that we will open the entire section, from Veterans Expressway to State Road 50, at the same time," said Joanne Hurley, the project spokeswoman.

But the smaller asphalt strip that runs parallel to the roadbed -- and is as tantalizing to bicyclists as the parkway is to drivers -- likely will be open within a month.

Price of parking is taking off at airport

TAMPA -- The price of some parking at Tampa International Airport will rise when the airport opens a new remote parking lot in mid-August.

The biggest change is to the popular, 18-month-old valet service, which the aviation staff says has been abused by messengers, delivery people and others with brief business at the airport who use it as a cheap way to avoid parking illegally by a curb.

In an effort to reserve valet parking for passengers late for their flights and people picking up or seeing off travelers, the board voted to slap a minimum charge of $5 on the valet service.

Those who stayed at the airport only briefly have been paying $2 per half hour to a maximum of $14 per day for valet service.

The opening of a new remote parking lot at the south end of the airport, expected about Aug. 15, will trigger the new rates. The remote lot, to be served by buses, will cost $6 per day and $30 per week.

Short-term parking rates now are $1 per half hour to a maximum $9 per day for the first two days and $12 per day thereafter. That first 48-hour "discount" will disappear when the new lot opens. Long-term parking rates of $1 per half hour to a daily maximum of $8 will not change.

Activist questions pitching Olympics during storm season

TAMPA -- The man who first suggest the Tampa Bay area pitch itself as a summer Olympic site is now at odds with the movement he started.

Neil Cosentino, a retired Air Force pilot and civic activist, disagrees with Florida 2012's decision to pitch the Games for late June, which falls in hurricane season. "It defies common sense," he says.

If not for Cosentino, Florida would not be pursuing the Games. In an effort to save old Houlihan's Stadium, Cosentino called then-Hillsborough County Commissioner Ed Turanchik and suggested the Games be brought to Tampa and the football stadium be used as the primary venue.

Initially, the idea was laughed at -- by Turanchik and just about everyone else who heard it. Turanchik was the first to stop laughing. He used his political contacts to muster support for the bid, resigned from the commission and took over at Florida 2012.

Turanchik said Florida 2012 is unconcerned about a hurricane threat.

"We have researched the weather history in central Florida over the past hundred years and have conducted a detailed, hour-by-hour weather evaluation for all competition hours over the past 30 years for the proposed Olympic period," he wrote Cosentino. "We have found that the probability of poor weather is (minimal)."

Tarpon Springs looking for ways to make tourists tarry

TARPON SPRINGS -- The quaint Sponge Docks and Greek fishing village aura of downtown Tarpon Springs is "an under-utilized gem" says a consultant who suggests the city find a way to build a hotel near an inherently interesting tourist draw.

Tarpon Springs is looking for ideas for improving downtown Tarpon Springs and the Sponge Docks.

One problem, said Bob Gray, chairman and chief executive officer of Strategic Planning Group Inc. of Jacksonville, is the absence of a hotel near the docks. Without a hotel, some people won't come to the city at all. Others are likely to leave after eating a Greek salad and buying a T-shirt.

Gray suggested one possible property for a hotel: an 8-acre riverfront parcel west of the city-owned parking lot on Live Oak Street. The land, which is owned by two parties, is for sale.

City officials were receptive to the idea.

Coming up this week

After weeks of bitter fighting over the merits of a downtown Clearwater redevelopment plan, voters will finally settle the dispute. The polls open Tuesday to ask voters to decide whether the city should lease public land in downtown to developers for up to 99 years at $1 per year to spur a redevelopment plan. And voters in Tarpon Springs get a say on the new lease deal for Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital. The financially troubled hospital and Tampa-based University Community Hospital have reached a deal where UCH would lease the hospital for 40 years. UCH has agreed to help the hospital retire its bonds and to pay the city $250,000 per year in rent, with periodic increases.

The board of Tampa Bay Water on Monday is scheduled to consider questions about the price of a badly needed water treatment plant. Delays caused by a legal challenge could add millions to the cost of on-time completion of the plant, a key element in the expansion of regional drinking water supplies. The board also will consider the cost of accelerating construction with double shifts and other means to bring the facility on line by its September 2002 deadline. That could cost an additional $3.2-million. The TBW board will be asked Monday to allow its staff to negotiate these costs with the contractor, U.S. Filter, with an eye toward bringing them down.

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