Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Tribune article on conservation lands:

Politics

County land conservation program’s well is running dry

By Mike Salinero | Tribune Staff
Published: March 8, 2015

TAMPA — Hillsborough County’s land conservation program is a voter favorite, winning 70 percent approval on three different occasions.

With that bedrock of voter support, the Jan K. Platt Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program has purchased more than 61,500 acres of environmentally sensitive lands. These pristine tracts, protected from development for posterity, are popular getaways where people can hike, camp, canoe or fish. The land also protects watersheds from pollution and maintains corridors for wildlife.

But now, in its 25th year, the program commonly called ELAPP is at a crossroads. Money to make new land purchases is running short, and county commissioners, in a slow-to-recover economy, are loath to pass even a small property tax to fund future bond issues.

“We have a lot of A-rated sites,” said Jack Berlin, a businessman and member of the ELAPP general committee. “If they became available and we don’t have the funds to buy them, I suspect there would be a revolt of the environmental community.”

ELAPP’s current problem sprang from the 2008 election when voters authorized up to $200 million in bond issues to buy land. Unlike earlier successful ELAPP referendums, the 2008 ballot language did not include a small property tax of up to 0.25 mills — about $25 a year for the owner of a $150,000 house, with homestead exemption. In past elections, the tax had been included to provide money to pay off bonds.

ELAPP general committee chairwoman Jan Smith said she and other environmentalists wanted the property tax included in the 2008 referendum. They were opposed, however, by county commissioners who didn’t want to put an ELAPP measure on the ballot at all.

“In order to get anything, we had to cave to the county,” Smith said. “A large group of us worked … to get an ordinance written in such a way to be acceptable to everybody.”

With no revenue stream, ELAPP is in jeopardy of becoming irrelevant. Just $3.5 million remains in the ELAPP fund from a $59 million bond issue approved by county commissioners in 2009. The other $55.5 million was used to buy 17,000 acres of undeveloped land, including the 12,800-acre Lower Green Swamp Preserve, formerly called Cone Ranch.

“If we said we wanted to have another $59 million, would the county commission be willing to raise the millage across the board so that money can be bonded?” Smith asked.

The answer probably is no. Not only has the commission’s Republican majority been averse to raising the property tax rate, it takes pride in lowering the millage by a fraction every year. In the most recent exercise of this mostly symbolic gesture, commissioners cut the property tax for this year by 0.0017 mills. That’s a reduction of 26 cents for the owner of a house valued at $200,000, with homestead exemption.

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Even commissioners who say they are strong supporters of ELAPP are not willing to renew the property tax once earmarked to fund the program. Victor Crist, for one, has suggested the county should do more to encourage ecotourism. But when asked about funding for ELAPP, Crist said some yet-to-be-revealed revenue stream will be identified to rescue the program.

“I am for buying more land; I am not for raising any property taxes,” Crist said. “I don’t think we’ve recovered enough for people to afford it.”

Commissioner Sandra Murman said she could not commit to levying a property tax for ELAPP without knowing more about what land would be purchased and checking with her constituents.

“I do think land acquisition is important for the quality of life in our state,” Murman said. “But as a commissioner, I have to balance those priorities.”

The commission’s newest member, Stacy White, recently proved his environmental bona fides when he publicly opposed expanding the county’s urban service boundary, the line beyond which the county will not extend sewer, water and other services.

Pushing water and sewer lines into largely rural areas is seen by smart-growth advocates as a recipe for sprawl.

White, an avid outdoorsman, said he is a staunch supporter of ELAPP and pledged to work for its funding.

“I would say you can never have enough with respect to conservation easements, especially in an urbanized county like Hillsborough,” White said. “We’re renowned because of the land we’ve been able to preserve.”

But when asked about ELAPP’s present predicament, White suggested that as property values rise in a recovering economy, they might yield enough new tax revenue to fund bond issues without raising the millage rate.

Even if commissioners were open-minded about passing a tax for ELAPP, the county has competing priorities that likely will trump land conservation. Fixing the area’s congested traffic system will take billions of dollars, for example — money that only can be raised through a tax increase.

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A sales tax increase likely will go to a vote in November 2016.

On that same ballot, voters will be asked to renew a property tax that funds the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County. Voters first approved underwriting the child welfare agency in October 1988 by passing a 0.5 mill property tax — 50 cents for every $1,000 in property value.

County Administrator Mike Merrill said Hillsborough has so many pressing needs that an ELAPP bond issue is unlikely to make the cut as commissioners work on the fiscal 2016 budget this year.

“It’s the timing,” Merrill said. “If in a couple of three years (finances) get better, absolutely.”

Other current events, however, argue for urgency in solving the ELAPP funding problem. In November, Florida voters approved Amendment 1, also known as the Florida Water & Land Legacy amendment. Passed with a 75 percent majority, the amendment earmarks 33 percent of taxes collected on real estate documents for water and land conservation.

State legislators will decide in the next seven weeks how the money from Amendment 1 will be divvied up. Supporters of the amendment want a large percentage to go to the Florida Forever trust fund for land acquisition. Millions of dollars from the trust fund could then become available for ELAPP projects, but only if the county can come up with matching money.

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Also looming is the rapid revival of the homebuilding industry and the inevitable development pressures it will put on rural lands. ELAPP’s site selection committee has identified 21 parcels of more than 27,000 acres as priorities for acquisition. Those parcels easily could be developed before ELAPP gets adequate funding.

“Other than a few parcels, we haven’t really done anything since Cone Ranch” in January 2010, said Berlin, the ELAPP committee member. “It would be terrible for one to come up and not have the funds to take advantage of it.”

Berlin, president of the Accusoft software company, criticized county commissioners for stubbornly refusing to even talk about raising taxes for ELAPP. He said the rural lands that shelter wildlife and cleanse rainwater should be seen as investments, just like roads and bridges.

“We want people to come here because of our water and air and our hiking and beaches and fishing and weather,” Berlin said. “We should put our money where our mouth is.”