Anti-auto activists in Tampa say they have gathered enough signatures to put a measure on November’s ballot increasing sales taxes for Hillsborough County transportation. The news report about the measure claims that 55 percent will be used for roads while 45 percent will be used for transit, but that is only one of the major deceptions behind the measure.
The petition itself lists “improve roads and bridges” as the first goal of the sales tax. But in fact, only a small share of the money would be used to improve (which in transportation parlance means increase the capacity of) roads and none would be used to improve bridges. In fact, the petition specifically states that none of the money can be used to build new roads or bridges or add new lanes to existing roads or bridges. Some money — 14 percent — can be used to improve intersections, increasing their capacity, but that’s it.
The supposed 55-45 split is also wrong. First, it is really only a 54-45 split, as one percent of the money goes to the Hillsborough metropolitan planning organization to do all of its brilliant planning. The remaining 54 percent goes to Hillsborough County and cities within that county (proportional to population), but it won’t all be spent on roads either. In fact, the petition says it can be spent on “roads, bridges, sidewalks, intersections, and public transportation.”
The petition specifies that 73 percent of the 54 percent — or less than 40 percent of the total — is to be spent repairing roads and bridges (11% of total), improving intersection capacities (14%), and street and highway safety (15%). Another 12 percent (6.5 percent of the total) must be spent on “bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.” The remaining 15 percent (8 percent of the total) can be spent on any kind of transportation, including transit, but not new roads or new lanes.
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Transit in Hillsborough County carried just 1.6 percent of commuters to work in 2016, a share that has declined since 2014 and has no doubt has declined further since 2016. From FY 2016 to FY 2018, Hillsborough’s total transit ridership declined 18 percent. The average transit bus carried just 9 passengers at a time in 2016. Yet the petition calls for spending at least 45 percent, and possibly more, of the new tax money on transit.
The petition was put on the ballot through the use of paid signature gatherers, and most if not all of the half-million-dollars came from just two people who represent downtown business interests. Less than 5 percent of Hillsborough County jobs are in downtown Tampa, which is one reason why transit doesn’t work so well. No doubt downtown property owners believe that building dedicated transit lines to downtown will enhance the value of their properties, but it would do so at the expense of reducing property values elsewhere in the county.
A previous measure to build light rail in Tampa was defeated at the polls. Transit advocates hope that the misleading language about road improvements will persuade people to support this measure. Fortunately, there is little support for raising taxes in Florida, but it is too bad that tax watchdogs will have to make another effort to kill this inane proposal.
If the Tampa referendum makes the ballot and it is defeated, will it be further proof that O’Toole is, as the New York Times recently stated, a weapon to be feared by transit purveyors?