1-Cent Sales Tax Referendum For Transportation Makes It To Ballot

TAMPA, FL – A community group intent on relieving Tampa’s traffic congestion is ready to kick off its campaign for a 1-cent sales tax referendum for transportation improvements

All for Transportation will hold a news conference on Thursday morning at Fun Lan Drive-In Theatre, 2302 E. Hillsborough Ave., Tampa, to discuss getting the vote out for a referendum on the Nov. 6 General Election ballot approving a 1-cent sales tax to widen and improve roads, expand public transportation and fund other transportation improvements.

On Wednesday, Aug. 8, Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer verified that All For Transportation had collected the required number of petition signatures for its proposed charter amendment to appear on the General Election ballot.

To make it to the ballot, the Hillsborough County Charter requires that the number of verified petition signatures of registered voters be equal to at least 8 percent of the total votes cast in the county in the preceding presidential election (in this case, 48,745 signatures).

With just six weeks before the July 27 petition deadline, All for Transportation hired Boston-based public affairs consulting firm Revolution Field Strategies to the tune of $250,000 to help collect the necessary signatures. The consulting firm dispatched dozens of college kids, soccer moms and retirees to the streets to collect signatures using the hook, “Do you want the potholes in your roads fixed?”

The effort paid off. The petitioners collected 77,020 signatures. However, 26,311 were determined by the Supervisor of Elections Office to be invalid, leaving 50,709 valid signatures, just slightly over the required number.

The group, led by Tampa Heights attorney Tyler Hudson, is now tasked with educating voters on the benefits of the transportation amendment before they head to the polls.

Although All for Transportation describes itself as a grassroots community group, the fact that it can hand fork over $250,000 to a consulting firm to gather signatures indicates there are some heavy hitters behind the initiative.

Among the more recognizable names is that of Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, who is developing the multimillion Water Street entertainment district in downtown Tampa.

Also pushing the referendum is Tampa philanthropist Frank Morsani, who donated $20 million to the University of South Florida to build a new medical college, the Morsani College of Medicine, within Vinik's Water Street project.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn hasn’t kept his support of the referendum a secret, either. “Bring me a petition; I’m ready to sign,” he tweeted when news of the proposal was announced.

But convincing the Hillsborough County Commission was another story.

In 2016. commissioners voted against placing a sales tax referendum on the ballot noting that Hillsborough voters rejected a similar referendum for transportation in 2010.

When All for Transportation broached the subject again in early June, the county commission tossed around the possibility of a half-cent sales tax for transportation but, in the end, four of the seven commissioners voted against placing the referendum on the ballot.

Without the county commission’s support, All for Transportation’s only alternative was the rarely used charter amendment by petition alternative allowing the group to bypass the county commission and go straight to the voters.

The referendum will ask voters to increase the sales tax from 7 to 8 cents for a 30-year period beginning next year. The additional cent is expected to raise $280 million per year for transportation.

Forty-five percent of the money raised would go to the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit to improve bus service and pay for other mass transit. The remainder would be divided among Hillsborough County, Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City for road and bridge improvements, pothole repair, sidewalks, bike lanes and projects to ease congestion.

Buckhorn believes the initiative is necessary if Hillsborough County is going to compete with other metropolitan areas. A gridlocked county can’t grow, he said.

Not allowing “the people of this community the opportunity to choose their path to a better future leaves the city of Tampa, city of Temple Terrace, Plant City and HART with no revenue source to address our growing needs,” he said.

All for Transportation is pinning its hopes on Hillsborough County residents who are tired of sitting in traffic jams, frustrated with the lack of bus service and sick of damaging their suspensions running over potholes.

Image via Shutterstock

(For more local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)