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: Campaign, Economic Stimulus, Voter Support | Tags: Bass Pro Shops, County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Tax, Tax exemption
Taxpayers will be on the hook
Candidate Ken Hagan has gone out of his way to tout a proposal on the Nov. 2 ballot — property tax exemptions for companies that locate in the county saying that if the tax exemptions pass, Bass Pro Shops will build an outdoor equipment complex here.
Whoa, wait a moment there cowboy. The ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AD VALOREM TAX EXEMPTION PROGRAM RECOMMENDED GUIDELINES clearly state “…the businesses eligible for exemption will be limited to our targeted industries listed in Appendix 3.” Retail sporting goods stores are NOT on that list.
Oh, never mind that Commissioner Hagan has never held public hearings on this proposed tax break. Ask your self if YOU know any of the details of the program. One of the most glaring sections of the ballot measure is that:
“With BOCC approval of the recommended program criteria and processes, and upon voter approval, staff will coordinate with the County Attorney’s Office to schedule a Public Hearing for consideration of an ordinance which would govern administration of this program. Based on BOCC direction, a program application package will be developed to facilitate implementation as soon as possible after voter approval and adoption of the ordinance.”
In other words: only AFTER the voters approve the tax break program will The County decide how and who gets what tax breaks, and if the taxpayers money will be well-spent.
If you can’t trust the author of that tax-break ballot item (Ken Hagan) to know what is in the program, how can you trust him to properly administer it?
We rate Half-Truth Hagan’s “Bass Pro Shops” promise a Pants on Fire re-election “great-big-fib”.
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: HART, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, Ken Hagan, Tampa Choo-Choo, Tax
No new jobs from rail for 5 years.
Yesterday the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) held a public meeting where only about a dozen people showed up to talk about Commissioner Ken Hagan’s Transportation Task Force gift of a Choo-Choo for downtown Tampa.
St. Pete Times reported that the best HART’s chief executive officer, David Armijo could come up with was:
“There is no set schedule for the project. If funding sources [from taxes] can be secured and the project is approved [by voters] , it’s possible construction could begin within five years.”
5 YEARS? YIPES!
The people of Hillsborough are saying they want jobs now, and
NO NEW TAXES.
Isn’t anyone in County Government listening?
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Campaign, Economic Stimulus, Leadership, Voter Support | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Linda Saul-Sena, Tampa Bay Area, Tax, unemployment
Confused and Tharn
Ken Hagan and Linda Saul-Sena listen intently to County Commission candidate Jim Hosler.
Many of Jim’s ideas on helping Hillsborough County get out of the current recession were a surprise.
Who would have thought you could reduce unemployment with
NO NEW TAXES?
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Economic Stimulus, Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Public transport, Sales tax, Tampa light-rail, Tax
NO NEW TAXES!
Janet Zink of the SP Times is on the right track with the transit tax. How is it not “advocating” when the only information that comes out of The County is happy-talk about the wonders that the transit tax will bring? The BOCC is hiding behind HART and the MPO. Every County Commissioner, especially Ken Hagan who chaired the Transportation Task Force (for almost 4 years) has a fiduciary responsibility to educate the public about any possible negative consequences of this sales tax increase. How else can he say “Let the voters decide.”?
Voters don’t know what they don’t know. Most voters only know what they are told. The full weight of The County and Moving Hillsborough Forward are devoted to getting this transit tax passed. Have you carefully read and evaluated the entire MPO 2035 Long Range Transit Plan? Not many county residents have.
The Metropolitan Planning Organization MPO), Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) and the million-dollar Moving Hillsborough Forward (MHF) do not talk about how much the sales tax increase will impact Hillsborough businesses. Rents, leases, repairs and gasoline will all cost more. Either the business owner absorbs the added costs or they pass them along to consumers, who then will have to pay the added business tax along with their own sales tax increase.
MPO does not even talk about how much the tax increase will cost business; only the cost to the average family.
MPO does not talk about the $91 taxpayers will be forced to pay for every $9 round-trip ticket rail riders will buy.
MPO does not guarantee that all of the enhancements to bus service will continue if the ridership does not justify it. There is nothing to prevent all of the transit money to be allocated to rail.
MPO does not talk about when the “tens of thousands” of new jobs will actually arrive. Except for consultants and attorneys who will benefit immediately, regardless, jobs for the common man and woman will come only after the rail project is completed and then only after business expand or locate near rail stations. Likely the new jobs will be mostly retail, restaurant and hotel workers. Hardly good-paying jobs.
MPO does not talk about where the rail stations will be located, even though they have identified a handful of possible routes.
MPO does not talk about how someone would get to a rail line running along the side of 275.
MPO does not talk about where rail riders would park or how much that would likely cost.
MPO does not talk about what they will do if federal, state and existing local taxes do not become available.
MPO does not talk about what they will do if CSX does not give them a sweetheart deal on right of way.
MPO doesn’t talk about the transit tax never going away and that our children will still be paying long after we are gone.
MPO does not talk about how many bags of groceries a transit rider can comfortably handle.
MPO does not talk about how many supermarkets or shopping malls are located immediately near the rail stations. Riders may be forced to shop at small neighborhood shops which charge more for the same goods.
MPO does not talk about which road projects will be completed in what order. There is nothing to prevent them from spending all the road money to enhance rail access and crossings in Tampa.
MPO does not talk about how many motorists could actually give up their autos in order to save the yearly $9,000 associated costs.
MPO does not talk about incentives or zoning restrictions that will also be needed to attract business development along the rail lines, as most other cities discovered.
MPO does not talk about the wisdom of a new, very big tax increase in the middle of a recession.
Buried deep in the addendum of the MPO plan, it does say that even with a $19 BILLION transit “investment”, in 2035 it will still take half as much time to drive from South Shore to the airport or to USF/VA Hospital/Moffitt than it would to take public transit.
“Investment” by the way is money (or other resources) spent anticipating a greater return. MPO says this tax increase will “subsidize” the cost to the end-user. You have to ask, is it worth it to the vast majority of taxpayers to subsidize a few, mostly Tampa riders? Really, what is in it for them, and is it worth it?
MPO and the BOCC do not talk about moving the vote back to 2012, after more details are worked out and possibly more Hillsborough residents get off employment and back to work. No new transit jobs will be created before 2012 (or 2015). We need jobs NOW! They do not talk about how those hundreds of millions of new tax dollars could be spent instead to help with job creation NOW!
It appears that the transit plan is squarely aimed at making it easier to get around the City of Tampa, but not easier to get to Tampa from the rest of the county. It is clearly aimed at making Tampa wealthier at the expense of the residents of unincorporated Hillsborough.
I may be wrong about this, but if I am, where is the “education” from The County on all these concerns?
Is it brain-wash or white-wash?
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Campaign, Ethics, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa light-rail, Tax
Commissioner Ken Hagan’s Transportation Task Force spent nearly four years coming up with a plan that everyone on the task force could agree upon. It was a unanimous vote by them (including Hagan) to forward the plan to the BOCC. Hagan voted to put it on the ballot.
Over the last few days, a 12-page County puff-piece was inserted and delivered in the local newspapers, advocating the benefits of the 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan and the value a sales tax increase would bring.
The Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has a REAL hard time dealing with the facts about the light-rail part of the plan. In 12 pages they only devote a quarter-page to rail. This small map shows four possible “Cost Affordable Rail” routes. No costs. No timelines.
Another problem lies in that none of the actual routes have been determined, and won’t be until AFTER we vote to increase our sales tax by 14% – forever. The County says “trust us.” The last time we trusted them, we wound up with a new home for the Bucs, that we are still paying for.
Can you spell "black-out"?
The punch-line on this is that this newspaper insert is reportedly to have cost us taxpayers one-half MILLON dollars! It may have been paid for by our federal taxes or state and local gas taxes, but it came out of our pockets none the less.
Why the 12-page insert? One reason only: to advocate for approval of the sales tax increase on the November ballot.
Do you trust your County elected officials?
NO NEW TAXES.
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa light-rail, Tax
Image by Focht via Flickr
One of the BIG PROMISES to come out of Commissioner Ken Hagan’s Transportation Task Force was all the jobs that would be created by increasing Hillsborough County sales taxes to fund a downtown Choo-Choo for the City of Tampa.
Below is where some of the million dollars went from the quasi-private Moving Hillsborough Forward lobbyists just through July 15, 2010.
Add that to the millions already spent by Hillsborough County for consultants for this project. Just don’t ask where it went exactly, and what the taxpayers got for it. Staff has not responded to at least one commissioner’s request. (Millions more will be spent over the next 25 years.)
If you want a good-paying job from the downtown Tampa light-rail project, get a job with a downtown Tampa consulting firm.
Let the voters decide.
| Apr 05, 2010 | Fallon Research & Communicatio P.O. Box 12180 Columbus , OH 43212 |
$24000.00 |
| May 31, 2010 | The Victory Group 701 W. Azeele St. Tampa , FL 33606 |
$15600.00 |
| May 31, 2010 | Holland & Knight 100 N. Tampa Street Suite 4100 Tampa , FL 33602 |
$10000.00 |
| Jun 04, 2010 | Holland & Knight 100 N. Tampa Street Suite 4100 Tampa , FL 33602 |
$10000.00 |
| Jun 04, 2010 | Cornerstone Strategic LLC 3812 Gunn Highway#B Tampa , FL 33618 |
$5000.00 |
| Jul 01, 2010 | Cornerstone Strategic LLC 3812 Gunn Highway#B Tampa , FL 33618 |
$5047.55 |
| Jul 01, 2010 | Cornerstone Strategic LLC 3812 Gunn Highway#B Tampa , FL 33618 |
$2075.09 |
| Jul 08, 2010 | The Victory Group 701 W. Azeele St. Tampa , FL 33606 |
$50000.00 |
| Jul 15, 2010 | The Victory Group 701 W. Azeele St. Tampa , FL 33606 |
$39900.00 |
Filed under: Economic Stimulus, Ethics, Transportation | Tags: Bus, County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Politics, Sales tax, Tax
Busless in Tampa - Image via Wikipedia
Taxpayer funded downtown Tampa Choo-Choo as a gift from Ken Hagan’s Transportation Task Force will suck up most of the money from the proposed sales tax increase. On page 9-9 of the Hillsborough County 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan they talk about
“…the potential availability of 75% of a 1-cent sales tax to assist with funding rail construction…”
So, are they now mistaken about where our tax dollars would go or have we been lied to about how the money would be split?
On page 5 of the MPO “From Vision to Reality” brochure is shown how the tax increase dollars would be spent:
- 25% Roads, Bikeways, Sidewalks
- 32% Expanded Bus Service
- 43% Rail Investment
What happened to the 32 % earmarked for bus?
Bus? What bus? Don’t we need no stinkin’ bus?
Could it be that The County has no idea how much they plan to spend in each year up through 2035?
Would anyone let their child set up a lemonade stand without first helping them figure out what it would cost and how many sales were needed just to breakeven? Why should we expect less from Hillsborough County when $15 BILLION of our tax dollars are at stake?
Maybe The County should spend a little more time getting their story straight about how much all of this 2035 plan is going to cost and how they are going to spend it BEFORE they ask us to raise our own taxes.
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Ballpark, Campaign, Economic Stimulus, Transportation | Tags: Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sykes Enterprises, Tampa Bay Area, Tampa Bay Rays, Tampa light-rail, Tax, Taxation
Image via Wikipedia
Nearly a MILLION dollars has been contributed to the Moving Hillsborough Forward campaign to help get the county taxpayers to fund a downtown Tampa Choo-Choo as a gift from Ken Hagan’s Transportation Task Force.
It might be an interesting exercise to follow the money and speculate why the money was contributed and who made the decision.
| 50000 | Sykes Enterprises, Incorporate | |||
| 50000 | Sykes Enterprises, Incorporate | |||
| 100000 | JHS Capital Holdings J. H. Sykes? | |||
| 40000 | TECO | ||
| 40000 | TECO | ||
| 25000 | Moffitt Cancer Center | |||
| 20000 | University of Tampa | |||
| 15000 | Tampa Bay Rays Baseball LTD | |||
| 15000 | Tampa Bay Rays Baseball LTD | |||
| 20000 | Tampa Bay Rays Baseball LTD | |||
| 10000 | Peoples Gas | |||
| 10000 | Peoples Gas | |||
| 50000 | Buccaneer’s Limited Partnership | |||
Makes you wonder if anyone asked “What’s in it for me?”
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Economic Stimulus, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Education, Government, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Politics, Tampa light-rail, Tax, Taxation, unemployment
Image via Wikipedia
In today’s Tampa Tribune Matt Fleming wrote about Full financial disclosure needed on transit tax.
It seems that there are many financial issues the public is not hearing about. This brings up two questions:
- Why did Ken Hagan’s Transportation Task Force report not include all of the necessary information needed by the public in order to “let the voters decide”? This was a taxpayer-funded program, yet only one side of the issue was reported.
- Why is the BOCC not providing fair and balanced information about the possible downsides of the transit tax? Everything that comes out of The County presents the Tampa Choo-Choo as the solution to all of the region’s economic ills. If the Commissioners want us to vote for this tax increase there should be some public discussion about what other uses that $180 MILLION a year tax increase could be put, like health, education and safety . These are the only things government should involve itself.
With over 11% of Hillsborough residents unemployed, and twice that many under-employed, that money could be better used to put people back to work. Working people buy more and pay more taxes: all good for economic recovery. Not a highly subsidized rail project for the city of Tampa.
Let the voters decide.
"Let the voters decide" 