Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Tribune article on transportation:

POLITICS

Murman has alternative to GoHillsborough transportation plan

By Mike Salinero | Tribune Staff 
Published: November 4, 2015   |   Updated: November 4, 2015 at 09:28 PM

TAMPA — Hillsborough County Commission Chair Sandy Murman appears to backing away from support for a sales tax referendum for transportation projects.

Murman, in a widely circulated e-mail late Wednesday afternoon, floated her own transportation plan funded by several revenue sources, none of which includes a sales tax increase. The commission is considering a voter referendum on a sales tax hike.

“The referendum is not the best choice for funding transportation solutions,” Murman said in the paper, titled, “Alternative Plan for Funding Transportation in Hillsborough County.” “We have transportation and maintenance problems that need to be solved now within our budget.”

Murman will propose her plan today at a meeting of the transportation Policy Leadership Group. Also on the agenda is presentation of the long awaited Go Hillsborough Community Transportation Plan, created by the engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff. This plan includes three funding and project options, two of which would likely require a sales tax increase.

Murman did not return messages seeking comment.

A no vote from Murman would make it much harder to assemble the four commission votes needed to send the sales tax question to voters in November 2016.

Three of the seven commissioners are on the record as supporting the referendum: Democrats Les Miller and Kevin Beckner and Republican Ken Hagan.

Republican Stacy White said he is opposed to the referendum. Al Higginbotham, also a Republican, said during his campaign for office last year he would support whatever decision came out of the transportation Policy Leadership Group, which includes county commissioners and the mayors of Hillsborough’s three cities.

But Higginbotham said recently he changed his mind after County Administrator Mike Merrill, without consulting the commission, decided to put a 1-cent-per-dollar sales tax increase back on the table after recommending half a cent to the Policy Leadership Group.

Republican Commissioner Victor Crist has been ambivalent about how he will vote.

Murman’s plan puts forward five possible revenue sources:

♦ Mobility fees, which are charges developers would have to pay based on traffic impacts from their projects. In her plan, Murman says the fees will generate $25 million to $30 million a year.

♦ A transportation tax increment trust fund that would rake off 50 percent of the growth in property tax revenue per year. According to Murman, this would produce $25 million a year, which could be shared with Hillsborough’s three cities.

♦ The county’s $22.8 million share of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil settlement, which commissioners so far have not appropriated.

♦ Raising the gas tax by 5 cents to generate $25 million a year.

♦ Spending $30 million from reserve funds. The reserves are usually kept as a hedge against financial shortfalls or disasters. Tapping the reserves requires a super majority — five votes — of the seven-member commission.

Commissioner Hagan said two of Murman’s proposals, mobility fees and earmarking $25 million a year for transportation, will likely be approved.

The county administration has already recommended mobility fees as a way to make developers pay their fair share of transportation needs.

But Hagan said the fees will generate only $10 million a year for the first 10 years because of credits developers paid previously for projects that were stalled by the recession. Those payments will have to be honored by the county when the projects are revived.

Also, the mobility fees can be spent only in the zones where the development takes place. They cannot be used to underwrite bond issues needed for big projects.

Hagan said reprioritizing new property tax revenue for transportation is a good idea, but will only cover yearly resurfacing and other road maintenance. The $25 million will do nothing for the county’s $750 million backlog of needed road maintenance.

“The problem with any one particular source is that it does not generate enough money,” Hagan said. “It essentially is a pay as you go system and doesn’t generate any significant revenues or a meaningful way to attack the issue.”

Taking money out of reserves could endanger Hillsborough’s AAA credit rating, which keeps county interest rates low on bond issues. The board is unlikely to support such a measure, Hagan said.

Raising gas taxes is an idea that has been considered in commission and Policy Leadership Group meetings but has never gained traction. Hagan said gas taxes are unreliable and declining because vehicles are getting better mileage. They can be used for new roads but not for potholes or mass transit.