Storms Adds HARTline Referendum To Agenda

By MARK HOLAN
Published: Aug 16, 2005

TAMPA - Item F-3 on Wednesday's Hillsborough County Commission agenda says, ``Discussion of the HARTline Referendum.''
Only Commissioner Ronda Storms seems to know what that means.

Storms suggested this year that residents in the unincorporated county be allowed to decide whether to continue paying the half mill of property tax to support the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority.

``I think it is time for the residents and for the community to have a thorough and frank discussion as to what we mean by public transportation and what are you prepared to pay for,'' Storms said June 6.

The item Storms put on Wednesday's agenda didn't include explanatory material. As of Monday afternoon, County Administrator Pat Bean and HARTline officials said they hadn't heard from Storms about the issue.

``It seems like government by `let me spring it on you,' '' Commissioner Kathy Castor said.

Storms, Castor and Commissioner Brian Blair are members of the HARTline board. Blair said he didn't have any details about the item.

Storms could not be reached for comment Monday. She is not required to provide extra information for agenda items and is prohibited by Florida's open meeting laws from discussing agenda items with other commissioners.

HARTline received nearly 62 percent of its property tax revenue from taxpayers outside Tampa and Temple Terrace, who received slightly less than 38 percent of agency service.

Tampa contributes 36.12 percent of revenue for 60.60 percent of the service. Temple Terrace taxpayers add 2.19 percent of revenue for 1.61 percent of service.

HARTline spokesman Ed Crawford said agency officials will attend Wednesday's meeting to hear what Storms has in mind.

``There have been lots of requests to increase funding that have never succeeded. I doubt that's what the item is about,'' Crawford said.

He said the agency's working assumption is that Storms wants commissioners to consider a referendum for unincorporated residents to opt out of paying into the system.

``If they want to go in that direction, there is nothing we can do to stop them,'' Crawford said. ``I doubt there are enough votes to do this.''

At 6 p.m. today, the Temple Terrace City Council will continue discussions about how much service HARTline provides compared with taxpayer support.

Council Member Frank Chillura, a HARTline critic, said it is premature to discuss withdrawing from the agency.