Although Kevin Beckner’s alternative plan to fund transit and transportation projects in Hillsborough County was met with derision by some of his colleagues upon his unveiling it at a budget workshop this week, he is unrepentant, believing that the current Go Hillsborough plan as currently constituted is unlikely to pass this fall.
“Contrary to what some may say, this plan does not undermine the vision that the mayor or any other leader wants to accomplish for the city or our county,” he told SPB on Thursday afternoon. Like the Go Hillsborough transportation tax plan that the County Commission is scheduled to vote on in April, it too calls for a half-cent sales tax, but it would run for only ten years, not thirty.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and other city officials said that a ten-year tax plan would hamper efforts to bond the measure, with the mayor adding that it was a rejection of nearly three years of work by the Policy Leadership Group, criticism that County Commissioner Sandy Murman also faced when she offered an alternate plan last fall (that plan does not call for a sales tax).
“What people need to realize is that the only plan that undermines the plan for the future of the city and the country is no plan,” Beckner responds. “And if the Board of County Commissioners can’t reach a consensus to move forward with a referendum that offers a stable revenue stream to support the plan that’s in place, then we will have minimal opportunities to invest in infrastructure and transit.”
Beckner’s elaborate proposal is available to review on his county commissioner website. He says it will generate $147 million annually, as compared to the $112 million that the Go Hillsborough Plan is set to generate. It begins by taking $25 million out of the current budget and put into an integrated system trust fund that will fund infrastructure projects. It also depends on the county raising mobility fees, something currently being discussed.
Nearly half the funds from the tax would go to projects like the high-speed ferry proposal, bike and pedestrian improvements and pay for the 10-year HART vision plan. Overall the plan would spend $700 million on infrastructure and $500 million on transit.
Beckner says he’s calling for a 10-year plan because one of the most frequently heard criticisms he received while requesting feedback from the community was a lack of trust in government – something that was also frequently mentioned in the aftermath of the 2010 transit tax debacle.
“I think that’s a fair question,” he says of the skepticism from the public. “There’s also the concern with the current plan as it stood, that did not require developers to pay their fair share for growth, and I also think that’s fair. Part of the concern that I had, and others also had… was relying on a single stream of revenue for the amount of infrastructure and transit that we need to build.”
The previous transit tax that went before Hillsborough County voters in 2010 was caught up in the conservative fervor that brought the Tea Party to power across the country, and local Tea Party activists in Hillsborough were crucial in leading to its defeat.
The criticism of the Go Hillsborough plan, however, has been bipartisan. The Sierra Club once again released a statement this week offering their alternative, which calls for raising mobility fees and the gas tax to five cents before coming to the voters for a sales tax in the fall.
And many Tampa residents – who unlike county residents are far more supportive of transit improvements – have reacted negatively to the Go Hillsborough mix of road construction to transit projects.
Buckhorn ripped into the proposal upon hearing about it, telling the Tampa Bay Times that Beckner’s plan “threw the cities under the bus,” and said it showed a lack of leadership, saying that Beckner was bowing to criticism from Tea Party members.
“It’s not about the Tea Party,” Beckner responds. “This was about a cross section of political affiliations in our community, saying, ‘hey, we’ve got some concerns.” emphasizing that the lack of enough transit is the predominant issue.
Beckner is term-limited out of his office this fall, and has taken on local Democratic Party icon Pat Frank in the Clerk of the Court race (whom Buckhorn supports).
He denies his proposal has anything to do with his campaign, and says in fact it takes leadership to offer such a bold counterproposal, knowing that the slings and arrows will come his way.
“Some would ask why would I even enter into taking a step forward and obviously put myself in the position where I would open myself to criticism with people from my own party,” he says. “Leadership is about when I’m in the process or anyone is in the process of trying to build consensus, it is absolutely guaranteed that you will disappoint other people, however attempting to not build consensus and to end without .an opportunity to send something to the people to me is not an option. I am committed to build consensus and to get something to the people to vote on in November.”
