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BIG-C supports Penny for Pinellas
By BOB MACPHERSON
| Article published on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007 |
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REDINGTON BEACH – Pinellas County Administrator Steve Spratt Wednesday told the Barrier Islands Governmental Council that he needs the help of municipalities to encourage their residents to vote for the renewal of the Penny for Pinellas.
Spratt received the unanimous endorsement of the council to help plug the extension of the 1-cent tax, though some officials said cities on the barrier islands don’t receive their fair share of the tax.
On March 13, Pinellas County voters will be asked to renew the sales tax for another 10 years. The renewal is projected to generate about $2 billion to pay for bridges, parks, drainage and storm water management, transportation, public safety, environmental restoration and protection, housing, jobs courts and jails. Seventy-five percent of the county’s capital budget comes from the penny fund, about one third coming from tourists and other visitors.
Spratt said that without strong public support for the penny program the county could not make badly needed infrastructure improvements.
“It is critically important that citizens and the county work together,” he said.
Spratt said the county’s seven-month promotional program centered on what the public needs.
Spratt said that one of the biggest expenditures of penny funds is to reduce traffic congestion, particularly in the Roosevelt Boulevard area where from $300 million to $500 million has been earmarked for improvements.
The fund is supposedly distributed equitably between the county and cities, but a number of BIG-C members told Spratt that the towns were not getting their fair share. Belleair Shore Mayor John Robertson, citing the importance of the barrier island beaches providing a major share of the penny income, told Spratt that the county is holding the “Golden Goose” but the towns end up with tarnished eggs.
“Without the beaches,” Robertson said, “we all might as well move back to Kansas.”
“Better to knock down all the bridges,” Indian Rocks Beach Mayor Bill Ockunzzi said, pointing to how he feels the towns are deprived a fair share of the penny funds. Spratt said that after the tax renewal is passed, the county will sit down with the towns to determine what piece of the penny pie they should get.
In 1987, the population of Pinellas County was more than 800,000 residents – the highest density in the state. Traffic congestion was suffocating; streets and yards were flooded during summer storms; crowded county parks caused users to wait months to secure a covered pavilion or picnic shelter. From those troublesome conditions the Penny for Pinellas revenue source was established.
The county’s 1989 comprehensive plan identified projects needed to bring county infrastructure up to meet the needs of the growing population. At that time funds for capital projects were generated by property taxes. The penny tax was first approved by voters in November 1989 for the period 1990 to 2000. Voters approved an extension to the tax in March 1997 for the period 2000 through 2010. If approved March 13, the tax will be extended through 2020.
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Article published on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007
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