Filed under: Campaign, Economic Stimulus, Ethics, Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation, Voter Support | Tags: Bus rapid transit, County Commission, Downtown Tampa, HART, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Public transport, Sales tax, Tampa Choo-Choo, Tampa light-rail, Tax
Uh, come on. You can trust ME.
The news never ends about Transportation Task Force chair Mr. Ken Hagan (R) who is running for a county-wide seat on the County Board of Commissioners.
This time the news is that Hagan, oops forgot to look out for $40 MILLION he caused the county to borrow in 2008 against the last sales tax increase. Read the News Channel 8 story. The money, earmarked to fund a HART BRT project has been just sitting around, while taxpayers pay the interest on that loan, estimated to be over one and a half MILLION dollars each year. HART is now scrambling to spend it before they have to give (have it taken) back to The County.
The BRT program deserves a look-see. BRT stands for Bus Rapid Transit. This is one of the most expensive modes of public transportation, second only to rail. Much more expensive than POB; Plain Old Bus service.
So, where is (was) this BRT scheduled to be built? Would you believe a few blocks away from where HART is also planning to build either another BRT line or a light-rail line? Yes boys and girls. The so-called critical north-south transit corridor to downtown ALREADY had money to build a sophisticated bus service, but wasn’t for some reason. So now HART is going to build competing transit lines in the same north-west corridor: one from the first tax increase, the second from the next tax increase.
What is that “some reason” why this north-south corridor route bus service was never pursued? Could it be that it was delayed so that ANOTHER sales tax increase could be muscled through on an unsuspecting public to pay for a Choo-Choo for Tampa?
The County and the City of Tampa, along with lawyers, consultants and developers have been working together on a scheme to use county taxpayer money to improve property values around downtown Tampa. They call it Transit Oriented Development (TOD). We should call it Tampa Oriented Development.
Why expensive light-rail instead of more cost-effective bus transit? The consultants and the lobby group Moving Hillsborough Forward determined that light-rail would have a bigger impact on Tampa property values than BRT or POB service. Plus, they found that riders would prefer to vote for a shiny new Choo-Choo than a stinky old bus. So what is the plan to get riders outside the corridors to the train stations? POB.
That $40 million is the only money that The County has given HART out of the $4 BILLION raised from the last sales tax increase. If public transportation was so important to them, Ken Hagan and the Transportation Task Force, why was only 1% of that tax used? Good question.
Hagan’s Transportation Task Force was all about property-value-enhancing rail for Tampa.
It was never about helping people get from one place to another.
If transportation was the important goal, better use of our $40 million would have been made, years ago.
Do we REALLY want to trust Commissioner Ken Hagan and HART with ANOTHER $180 MILLION per year, forever, to service the transportation needs of the tax-paying public?
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Downtown Tampa, HART, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa Choo-Choo, Tampa light-rail
TECO street car soon out of money
In today’s SP Times, Bill Varian talks about higher cost projections for Hagan’s light-rail boondoggle. The MPO had estimated the cost to be “only” $70 MILLION per mile to construct. This is the figure that the BOCC used to push this sales tax increase onto the ballot so that big-money Tampa land owners, lawyers and consultants could throw a million dollars at trying to convince voters this was a good idea.
The MPO and HART bragged about how conservative this number was. They had seen other cities face serious cost over-runs for rail construction. Now that non-partisan, nonprofit think tank Rand Corp. says that the rail will likely cost between $85 and $120 MILLION dollars per mile, both the MPO and HART are still patting themselves on the back for being so conservative with earlier cost estimates.
Huh?
Conservative cost estimates ADD money to the budget in case the project winds up costing more than projected, as it did in other cities studied. MPO seemed to have confused “conservative estimate” by putting out a LOWER number. Now that HART’s best guess of $70 million per mile is off by almost 100%, they claim that their “best estimate” is still 50% LESS than what they guessed it would cost to build.
HART claims that the Rand figures are nothing more than “back of the envelope” numbers. What then does that make the HART figures: “back of the napkin” numbers? Folks, they STILL haven’t picked a route or determined the most cost-effective mode of transit.
It is becoming more clear that whatever we are being told, this whole thing is going to cost more; much more. Perhaps we could get more accurate figures by 2012 when we could vote on this again?
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Economic Stimulus, Tampa Choo-Choo, Voter Support | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa Choo-Choo, Tampa light-rail
Candidate Mr. Ken Hagan has two ideas for yet more taxpayer funding to attract business to Hillsborough County, both on the Nov. 2, 2010 ballot:
- A Choo-Choo for downtown Tampa that is supposed to increase property values there and create low-wage service sector jobs.
- Another tax incentive program that gives tax money from already established companies and from residents, to out-of-town businesses.
Hagan would have you believe that Hillsborough is not, will not be competitive otherwise.
Consider what Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation has to say about Tampa and Hillsborough County:
With a low tax burden and competitive lease rates, an expanding port and strong demographic trends, it’s easy to see why Hillsborough County provides a healthy environment for businesses, large and small.
Tampa itself is among the nation’s “most-wired” cities and is one of the top ten for security-cleared professional jobs requiring technical, computer and engineering skills, a background in international affairs, intelligence and foreign languages.
What Others Say About Us
- A 2010 KPMG study ranked Tampa Bay as the most competitive large city in the United States when it comes to business operating costs. Reinforcing that, The Tax Foundation’s 2010 State Business Tax Climate Index ranked Florida, overall, as the fifth most business-friendly tax system in the nation.
- Ranked among the best business climates in the U.S. (#3), the state has become the nation’s fourth largest cyber state and tops Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News’s list of emerging hot spots. It is a national leader in growing the alternative energy industry, ranking fifth in the nation for number of start-ups (Business Xpansion Journal, Nov/Dec 2008).
- The area enjoys the distinction of being highly desirable for recruiting. Expansion Management Magazine ranked Hillsborough County in the top 20 of more than 3,000 counties in the U.S. for recruitment and attraction (May 2007).
- Moody’s Economy.com describes Tampa as Florida’s financial services capital.
Who to believe, that we need to add taxes upon taxes?
Never mind that we also already have these (and more) incentive programs in place:
Quick Response Training Grant (QRT)
Economic Development Transportation Fund (Road Fund)
Brownfield Redevelopment Bonus Refund
Enterprise Zone
Jobs for the Unemployed Tax Credit Program (JUTC)
Let the voters decide.
Related Articles
- Hillsborough County Jump Starts Home Loan (homeloans.org)
Filed under: Campaign, Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa light-rail, unemployment
Maybe raising taxes during this recession won’t hurt the unemployed; children living in poverty; small businesses, or tourists.
Maybe the unemployed can wait until after 2016 to get service jobs created near rail stations.
Maybe putting the dysfunctional BOCC in charge of an extra $200 MILLION every year will avoid waste and mismanagement.
Maybe a new citizens committee will function better than the Transportation Task Force who after nearly 4 years of planning couldn’t come up with a single rail route.
Maybe HART will find that people who don’t like bus transit now will like it better when their taxes go up to pay for it.
Maybe there are enough people who travel between USF and downtown Tampa everyday who will keep the fare boxes full.
Maybe taxpayers won’t mind paying as much as $3 for every 1$ transit ticket sold and $9 for every $1 rail ticket sold when it comes to funding rail lines 3 and 4.
Maybe the State of Florida will cut health or education money to fund the Tampa Choo-Choo for us.
Maybe the Federal Government will borrow the money to fund our Tampa Choo-Choo.
Maybe we can afford the $200 Million CSX wants for right-of-way for the Tampa Choo-Choo.
Maybe the idle 100 buses already sitting in HART parking lots could be put on the road using the last half-cent tax increase we voted on our selves.
Maybe Hillsborough County will actually spend more of the tax increase on bus transit this time than the 1% they spent on bus in the last 12 years.
Maybe HART won’t find that a lack of bus riders causes the tax money to all go to rail.
Maybe landowners in unincorporated Hillsborough won’t mind having their property values decline as City of Tampa land values climb.
Maybe we should think all these things through and
wait for 2012 to decide to raise our taxes.
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Campaign, Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa Choo-Choo, unemployment
JOBS NOW - NO NEW TAXES!
Today’s Tampa Tribune Michael Sasso article about “Bay area jobless rate keeps on climbing” should get us all thinking about what our elected officials were doing over the last three years while our jobs went into the toilet.
Take a look at what the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners has done for unemployment under the leadership of Commissioner Ken Hagan. Three and one-half years ago he formed a task force to make recommendations about the transit situation in the county, which was a good idea at the time. However, soon into that study, the housing bubble burst and along with it Hillsborough’s economy and jobs.
County unemployment went from 3.5 % to 12.5%
Ken Hagan’s task force continued to study transit and seemingly only as an afterthought mentions job creation, but then with jobs only occurring after the Tampa Choo-Choo is finished, five years from now.
This Transit Task Force finally came to the conclusion that the plan they developed should be funded by a 14% increase in the County sales tax equalling $200 MILLION per year. Hagan voted to recommend this to the BOCC and voted to put the tax on the Nov. 2, 2010 ballot.
Not only will this tax increase be an added burden to the unemployed, it will be a job-killer for county small businesses. Businesses pay sales taxes on lease payments for commercial space as well as for equipment and for repairs and maintenance. These business will have to decide to eat the tax increase and maybe have to fire an employee or two, or pass the tax along to consumers who have no one to pass along their added sales taxes.
If our elected officials were serious about doing something about Hillsborough County’s skyrocketing unemployment and get the economy back on its feet, they should not be raising taxes now, they should be working on job creation NOW!
Maybe we need new elected officials in the County Commission.
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Campaign | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa light-rail
Even in death, Ralph Hughes will be GOP force in Hillsborough
” Hughes did not father conservatism so much as create openings for opportunistic politicians to run on that banner. Proteges such as Commissioners Jim Norman, Ken Hagan and Brian Blair were able to talk the talk even as the county enjoyed a revenue stream built almost entirely out of inflated real estate values.”
Grant defeats Blair in District 47 state House Republican primary.
Ambler’s lawsuit seeking Norman’s removal from ballot can continue, judge rules.
Rashid puts Hillsborough commissioners on notice about transit tax
“‘…Chairman Ken Hagan is recommending that commissioners put a 1-cent sales tax increase proposal on the November 2010 ballot.'”
Let the voters deicde
Filed under: Campaign, Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa light-rail
Ken only wants to be a real (good ol') boy
Mr. Commissioner Ken Hagan tells voters that he does not support the $200 MILLION yearly sales tax increase for Hillsborough County, but his actions say otherwise. As chairman of the county Transportation Task Force he wrote :
One of the “ideas” in the final Task Force report was a recommendation for a sales tax increase to fund the plan.
A referendum for multi-modal transportation investments;
An ongoing one percent sales tax as authorized by the Charter County Transportation Surtax”
When this plan to increase sales taxes for Hillsborough County came before the Board of County commissioners, commission chair Ken Hagan voted to put the measure on the November ballot.
Ken, you can’t claim to be against taxes now, having spent the last 3 1/2 years working to get taxes raised.
Let the voters decide
Filed under: Campaign, Tampa Choo-Choo | Tags: County Commission, Downtown Tampa, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa light-rail
Choo-Choo for downtown Tampa
In a recent article in the Tampa Bay Business Journal: AAA transit poll veers slightly , Moving Hillsborough Forward Chairman Gary Sasso points to a couple of studies on anti-transit “myths”, one of them from Victoria Transport Policy Institute.
In one of their reports, Transportation Cost and Benefit Analysis, Techniques, Estimates and Implications, Second Edition (2009) this transit research institute says:
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More research is needed to better estimate transportation costs under various conditions and locations.
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Transport equity and diversity appear to be significant values which deserve more research.
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Decision-makers need better information on consumer demands, such as the value people place on improved travel convenience and comfort.
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Research is also needed to evaluate the synergistic effects of combined planning decisions.
Why is this whole rail-for-downtown project being shoved down the throats of Hillsborough County taxpayers by the Tampa “power elite”?
Hillsborough County taxpayers are facing a vote on a $200 million/year sales tax increase. Shouldn’t we wait for better information before we vote to fund Mr. Commissioner Hagan’s Choo-Choo for Tampa?
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Campaign, Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Downtown Tampa, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa Choo-Choo, Tampa light-rail
Image via Wikipedia
A cold shiver ran down my spine as I read in today’s Tampa Tribune that 40 young people were recently invited to an advocacy group-sponsored wine event in Tampa to get tips on evangelizing about rail. David Singer, campaign manager for Moving Hillsborough Forward was quoted as saying “The real opposition is the uneducated voter.”
The pro-rail lobby has a private army of 100 volunteer speakers, trained to defend Hagan’s sales tax increase. Can we expect them to now show up in numbers at local events, wearing brown shirts perhaps, with colorful armbands?
“We must reframe this struggle as a moral struggle, as a transcendent struggle, as a struggle between good and evil. And we must be prepared to explain why this is so. We must provide the evidence needed to prove this using images and simple terms. “
“We must recognize that bonding with others in one’s generation or society is the means by which values are strengthened and perpetuated. It is vitally important that we bond in such a way that the values perpetuated are our own. ”
From an Eric Heubeck essay, The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for the New Traditionalist Movement published on the Free Congress Foundation’s website in 2001.
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Campaign, Economic Stimulus, Leadership, Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Jim Hosler, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa light-rail, unemployment
Hagan, get the message: NO NEW TAXES!
Hillsborough County residents small-business owners, retirees, veterans and even government workers are demanding less government and no new taxes. What we are getting from Mr. Commissioner Hagan is NOT less government, less taxes, less socialism and more capitalism.
Voters want RINO (Republican in name only) Commissioner Hagan to take less of their money and leave them alone. Hagan says all the right things while running, but fails to deliver. Hagan is one of the political elite who has no idea how strongly everyday people feel that the County government is broken and not living up to their expectations.
The Joe Six-Packs of Hillsborough County don’t want or need a Choo-Choo in downtown Tampa. Only the few, elite of Tampa will ever ride the thing. For every $9 round-trip ticket sold, it will cost County taxpayers $91. None of this new tax will help pay for schools, fire/rescue or safety.
This election is nothing less than a referendum on what Hillsborough is to become for rich land owners and over-priced consultants. People are pushed to the brink and don’t need go-along-to-get-along Republican politicians like Hagan who is spending our tax dollars to fund Task Forces and through special interests, pushing for tax increases. Jim Hosler is the only REAL conservative running for County Commission.
What happened to free market enterprise?
Hagan is out of control. The 14% sales tax Hagan authored and voted to put on the ballot is being shoved down our throats. This is the largest tax increase in the history of Hillsborough. We are still paying for the last sales tax increase.
Taxpayers just want to be left alone. Commissioner Hagan doesn’t know how to run our lives. Hagan showed that he doesn’t even know how to run the County Commission either.
We need to shrink government, cut taxes and regulation, add jobs build companies around our universities and community colleges. Everything Hagan is doing is killing our jobs; it’s creating tax increases, debts and deficits that our kids and our grandkids are going to have to pay for.
First-time candidate Jim Hosler knows this and is running a No Party Affiliation (NPA) campaign to help The County and residents get out of this current recession. He is not running to be reelected and he is not running for special interests. There will be no political party-boss or big-contributor influencing his decisions when he is County Commissioner.
Let the voters decide.
"Let the voters decide" 