Commissioner Murman quoted in this Patch.com article on the South County Job Fair:

 

News | Government

South County Job Fair Coming; Exhibitors Sought, Public Welcome

The fair is in association with the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance, Hillsborough Community College SouthShore and Hillsborough County government.

Posted by Linda Chion Kenney (Editor) , September 21, 2013 at 03:32 AM

Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman is set to host a South County Job Fair on Friday, Sept. 27, from 8:30 a.m. to noon at Hillsborough Community College’s SouthShore Campus in Ruskin.

The event is being held in association with the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance, Hillsborough Community College SouthShore and Hillsborough County. Employers are encouraged to participate; job fair exhibitor forms are online.

The campus is at 551 24th Street, N.E. in Ruskin.

“With the challenges that we are all facing with the economy, the most important thing that we can do in county government is to help our unemployed or under employed citizens to find jobs,” Commissioner Murman said in an event announcement. “When more people are working, more people are saving and spending money at local businesses, and the economy continues to improve.”

The announcement contends that no area “has been hit harder” in the commissioner’s district than South Hillsborough County.

“It’s still critical that we get people back to work,” Murman said.

The South County Job Fair is free and open to the public. For more information call David Robinson at Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance at 813-930-7868.

Learn more about Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra L. Murman by visiting her Commissioner page online.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Times article on Homeless Recovery:

 

Hillsborough official: 200 live in squalor paid for by public

By Will Hobson and Bill Varian, Times Staff Writers

Wednesday, September 18, 2013 2:25pm

 

TAMPA — Former Tampa Port Authority Chairman William “Hoe” Brown isn’t the only landlord who got county money to house the poor in substandard living conditions.

 

There still are about 200 people receiving public rental assistance through HillsboroughCounty’s Homeless Recovery agency while living in unacceptable housing, County Administrator Mike Merrill told commissioners Wednesday.

 

“It’s systemic,” Merrill said of problems plaguing the county agency.

 

Commissioners voted to have the county’s internal auditor examine Homeless Recovery, which had sent clients and more than $600,000 to Brown since 1998, the Tampa Bay Times reported Sept. 8.

 

Brown, a prominent Republican fundraiser, resigned as port chairman in July after several Times articles about squalid conditions and criminal activity in a makeshift mobile home park and extended-stay motel next to his SeminoleHeights office.

 

While Homeless Recovery managers denied referring clients to Brown, hundreds of emails showed the agency routinely sent clients to Brown for years.

 

County officials said they were unable Wednesday to produce a list of the other properties housing Homeless Recovery clients in poor conditions.

 

“It’s not something I want this organization to stand for,” Merrill said of the county subsidizing inhumane living conditions. “We will correct this.”

 

That correction could mean farming out the rental assistance program to nonprofits, Merrill said. Monday, he met with representatives from several nonprofits to discuss how to improve operations for Homeless Recovery, which has an annual budget of about $1.2 million, more than $800,000 of it in county money.

 

“They clearly are turning the ship in the right direction,” Tim Marks, president of Metropolitan Ministries, said Wednesday.

 

Merrill outlined for commissioners other changes made to Homeless Recovery. Its manager, Jim Silverwood, resigned Sept. 9. Silverwood’s supervisor, Sam Walthour, submitted a letter of resignation last week, then retracted it. He was fired Friday, county spokeswoman Lori Hudson said.

 

While Walthour and Silverwood told the Times that Homeless Recovery didn’t have the funding to inspect properties where its clients live, Merrill said they never told that to him.

 

“Prior management had numerous opportunities to tell me they needed additional resources,” Merrill said. “We needed a completely different direction.”

 

Commissioners praised Merrill’s quick action while assailing the treatment of some of the county’s most vulnerable residents.

 

Commissioner Kevin Beckner called it “indefensible” for county tax dollars to pay for the poor to live in “deplorable conditions.”

 

“This issue is not only troubling, it is to me personally an embarrassment,” added Commissioner Al Higginbotham.

 

Commissioner Sandra Murman said she hopes something good can come from the audit. “I think we have an opportunity to turn this black eye around and be a real shining star,” she said.

 

Wednesday’s meeting provided the first public discussion of Homeless Recovery by county officials, several of whom have declined repeated requests for interviews by the Times during the last two weeks. Among those who have not returned calls: Ven Thomas, the department director who formerly oversaw Homeless Recovery; Paula Harvey, the new department director overseeing the agency; commission Chairman Ken Hagan; and Commissioner Mark Sharpe.

 

Brown’s name was not mentioned at the meeting Wednesday. The GOP fundraiser has donated money to all five Republican county commissioners, election records show. He gave Hagan $1,000 combined over two campaigns; $250 to Murman in 2010; $1,500 combined over two campaigns to Higginbotham; $250 to Victor Crist in 2010; and $1,750 over three campaigns to Sharpe.

 

Before the discussion ended, Murman consoled Thomas, the department director who no longer oversees Homeless Recovery.

 

“These things happen,” she said. “Just look at this as a building block to where we’re going to go in the future.”

 

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Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tribune article on enterprise zones:

 

Hillsborough leaders divided on stretching USF enterprise zone

By Mike Salinero | Tribune Staff

Published: September 18, 2013

 

TAMPA — A proposal to stretch a redevelopment area around the University of South Florida all the way down to southern HillsboroughCounty is creating friction on the county commission.

 

A proposed amendment to the boundaries of the University Area Enterprise Zone would extend its borders to include PalmRiver and Gibsonton, according to county commissioners who have seen the maps. The enterprise zone now encompasses 3.1 square miles bordered by Fowler and Bearss avenues, Interstate 275 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. Up to three noncontiguous areas can be added to an existing enterprise zone as long the total area isn’t more than 20 square miles.

 

The state government designates enterprise zones based on the median family income in an area. The zones are intended create jobs in blighted, economically disadvantaged areas. The University Area Enterprise Zone was created in February 2003.

 

CountyCommissioner Victor Crist, who, as a state legislator sponsored the bill to create the enterprise zone in the University Area, said he opposes enlarging the boundaries, especially pushing them down into south county. A larger area would dilute the amount of money the zone gets from the state, he said.

 

“Those dollars haven’t changed in years at the state level,” Crist said. He compared enlarging the boundaries to take in south county to “dropping a drop of chlorine in a 60,000 gallon pool.”

 

Crist blamed the proposed boundary changes on unnamed single-member district commissioners who want resources from the University Area Enterprise Zone to benefit their constituents. The commissioners who represent Palm River and south county are Les Miller and Sandy Murman.

 

“There are two options: go back to the state and get new legislation to create a new enterprise zone — that’s hard to do — or expand current enterprise zones in areas where you want to do it,” Crist said. “This should have been done as a separate enterprise zone altogether.”

 

Murman, who favors the new borders, said she explored the possibility of creating a new enterprise zone in Gibsonton and Ruskin, but the median family income there wasn’t low enough.

 

“I think we need to be very careful of concentrating all our resources in one area,” Murman said. “I think it’s important to look at the big picture, the whole county, and make sure all impoverished areas have the opportunity to have development and services.”

 

The county is planning community meetings on the proposal in the University Area, PalmRiver, Gibsonton and the 56th Street area, according to an e-mail sent Tuesday by Lynn Schultz, a member of the county Economic Development Department.

 

Schultz said a legal advertisement outlining the proposed boundary amendment was to be published in today’s edition of The Tampa Tribune. The matter will go to the county commission Dec. 18, Schultz said.

 

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Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tribune article on Homeless Recovery program:

 

Social services director fired

By Mike Salinero | Tribune Staff

Published: September 19, 2013

 

TAMPA — Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill continued his shake up of the county’s Homeless Recovery Program this week in the wake of a scandal that saw hundreds of homeless clients referred to substandard housing.

 

Merrill told county commissioners Wednesday he had fired Sam Walthour, director of the county’s social services division, which included Homeless Recovery. Last week, the homeless program’s manager, James Silverwood, resigned under pressure.

 

Walthour, who was making $100,651 a year, could not be reached for comment.

 

The men’s departure followed the disclosure earlier this month that the county had paid more than $625,000 to Republican fundraiser and former Tampa Port Authority chairman William “Hoe” Brown to house homeless clients in rundown apartments.

 

Though the program is still being investigated, Merrill said it was apparent “most clients were being placed in substandard housing.” He blamed poor leadership and a lack of effective policies and procedures for the suffering endured by many county clients.

 

“That clearly was not something that I approve of; it’s not something that I want this organization to stand for,” Merrill said. “So I do apologize to those clients and to the community for that.”

 

Merrill said he has ordered the county’s internal auditor to investigate Homeless Recovery and other rental assistance programs for fraud and other abuses. Meantime, code enforcement officers are checking rental properties the program used to ensure they are up to code.

 

“We’ll have a good clean list to start from,” Merrill said after the meeting.

 

The county also doubled the amount of money that will go toward a month’s rent for a family of four to $1,200. Most of the money comes from county property taxes.

 

The Homeless Recovery Program is now operating under the Affordable Housing department, but Merrill said he’d like to see the county quit operating the program altogether. On Monday, he met with representatives of some of the county’s largest social service providers, including Metropolitan Ministries, Salvation Army, and the Homeless Coalition.

 

At some point, Merrill said, he will bring commissioners a plan to contract out homeless services to the private, nonprofit providers. As it does with other nonprofit organizations, the county would perform yearly audits of the agencies chosen to handle housing for the homeless.

 

Ideally, temporary housing would be one component of getting homeless people on their feet, said Commissioner Sandy Murman, who supports Merrill’s outsourcing plan. It should be incorporated with food, clothing, job training and other assistance, Murman said.

 

“This is the time for us to break out of our shell and go talk to these other people,” Murman said. “They’re the experts.”

 

Commissioners generally supported Merrill’s plans and complimented him for taking quick action to revamp the troubled homeless program. However, Commissioner Kevin Beckner said he wanted the internal auditor to widen the scope of her inquiry to include other county programs.

 

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Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Tribune article on Port buying Channelside:

 

Port Authority To Buy Out Channelside Center

Richard Mullins, Tampa Tribune Staff

September 10, 2013

The Tampa Port Authority late Tuesday approved a plan to buy out the troubled Channelside retail and shopping complex for just under $6 million in cash, potentially ending years of legal and political wrangling over the nearly vacant property.

If all goes as planned — and several legal steps must be sorted out — the port authority could take full possession of Channelside in the next three to eight weeks. That, in turn, could not only open up the property for a serious face-lift, but also trigger wider redevelopment of the whole area for a potential baseball stadium site, according to several port authority board members.

“This is a fresh start,” said Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn after the Tuesday night vote. “This lets us take control of our own destiny.”

Once the check clears and the property is truly under the port authority’s control, Buckhorn said, the port will likely call on the development community to bring their ideas and resources to remake Channelside into a prosperous venue again.

Despite being at the doorstep of the cruise ship ticketing venue, and next door to the Florida Aquarium, the Channelside complex is more than half vacant, and the second floor mezzanine only has one operating restaurant that sits next to several empty nightclubs and a closed-down movie theater complex.

The port authority board met in private Tuesday to consider the proposed settlement, then emerged only for a few minutes to unanimously approve the deal and take questions from the media.

That deal involves a broad legal settlement between the Port of Tampa and the Irish Bank Resolution Corp., which still holds a multi-million mortgage on the property above ground. The deal calls for the port authority to pay $5.75 million in cash from the port’s own roughly $45 million annual operating budget. That budget is funded by fees and rents from port operations, several port authority board members hastened to mention, and not from taxpayer dollars or government funds.

Port authority lawyers will now file notice of the settlement with several courts that have various actions related to Channelside.

The move could potentially end a long and tangled drama over Channelside, which was originally built as an entertainment complex for millions of cruise ship passengers. Unfortunately, it was built with a closed-off design, and the property struggled over several years, ultimately becoming a mostly empty hulk.

The property fell into disrepair and bankruptcy, but because the port authority owns the land underneath, the port was dragged into legal fights as the above-ground structure is backed by a mortgage from an Irish-based bank. That bank collapsed, further complicating legal matters.

At one point, several outside bidders sought to invest in the property and take over operations, including the Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, but he later backed out of consideration.

The Irish bank subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection connected to the Channelside property, leading some port commissioners to wonder if the port authority should simply make an offer to buy out the bank and take total control of the property.

According to port counsel Charles Klug, the deal also clears another potentially tricky legal hurdle. A partnership between the developer pair of Liberty Group and Convergent Capital had previously tried to acquire control of Channelside by buying out the Irish bank’s interest but were rebuffed by the port authority for offering what port officials said was an inferior offer. Now, Klug said, the Irish Bank has essentially paid off that group to release their interests.

As for Channelside’s immediate future this summer, Buckhorn ruled out the possibility of demolishing the site and starting over. Instead, he suggested the new deal would open the door for development across the wider neighborhood.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman said after the vote that she hoped the move would “kickstart more development, maybe a baseball stadium. It’s like a lawnmower, once you get the engine started, it just goes.”

 

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tribune article on the Family Justice Center:

 

Hillsborough commissioners deny funding for Family Justice Center

Mike Salinero | Tribune Staff

August 21, 2013

TAMPA — The Family Justice Center, a nonprofit agency that helped victims of domestic violence, failed to get emergency funding from the Hillsborough County Commission today following a scathing county audit.

Instead, commissioners decided to keep the $100,000 requested by the center, and reallocate it later to some other services for domestic violence victims.

“We are not abandoning domestic violence victims at this board; we want to help,” said Commissioner Sandy Murman, who asked for the audit.

Murman said domestic violence continues to be a “rampant siuation.”

Commissioners made the decision after hearing a synopsis of the audit from Tom Fesler, director of business and support services.

Fesler said the Family Justice Center had maxed out a $50,000 line of credit and used it for operating expenses. The agency currently has no employees, he said.

The agency was rocked when the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County cut the center’s funding by half, to $300,000. Since then, the agency had been surviving on borrowed money.

“When they received notice of the reduced funding from the Children’s Board, we expected to see cost-cutting measures or some additional efforts to provide added revenue,” Fesler said. “While we did see some cost-cutting, it was not significant enough to survive into the future.”

Fesler said the center has a “very large lease” for space at the Floriland Mall that consumed 35 percent of the agency’s budget. The Children’s Board has agreed to increase funding to other agencies that will try fill any gap left by the Family Justice Center’s closing.

“I think the bottom line today, the important thing the report points out is that the service gaps have been filled from our standpoint,” Fesler said.

The Family Justice Center had acted as a clearinghouse, connecting domestic violence victims with needed services, as well as assessing the danger the victims faced and counseling them. Opening in 2006 as part of a federal program, the agency had helped 80 to 90 women a month get protective injunctions against abusive spouses or other family members.

Nikki Daniels, executive director of the Family Justice Center, could not be reached for comment.

Commissioner Kevin Beckner asked County Administrator Mike Merrill to have county staff bring back options for reappropriating the $100,000 in a way that would address domestic violence. Beckner said the Family Justice Center had done good work, but was unsustainable financially.

 

“I would strongly encourage them to reorganize and come up with a future plan to compete (for funding) again,” Beckner said.

Commissioner Murman mentioned in this Observer article on SouthShore new teachers breakfast:

 

SouthShore Chamber welcomes new teachers

21/08/2013

Mitch_Traphagen, Observer News

 

RUSKIN — The SouthShore Chamber of Commerce held its annual New Teacher Breakfast at Destiny Church in Ruskin on August 16, with 145 teachers in attendance, all new to South County schools, and 210 people in total, representing area officials including Hillsborough County Sheriff Office Major Ron Hartley, Chris Farkas, District 8 Area Supervisor, Dr. Alan Witt, President of the Hillsborough Community College SouthShore Campus, school administrators and chamber members.

 

Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman also attended the breakfast, bringing 150 sackpacks, canvas cinch-bag backpacks, each with a plastic zipper pencil pouch that included crayons, a pencil, a pen, a plastic ruler, a pencil sharpener and a large pink eraser. Murman received the sackpacks from the Office Depot Foundation’s “National Backpack Program,” which has helped more than three million children since 2001, by donating sackpacks and backpacks to students across the nation and the world.

 

In a press release, Murman stated that she is working with the SouthShore Chamber to identify schools and teachers in the area that would most benefit from receiving the sackpacks.

 

Chamber members also stepped forward to help students in need, providing everything from classroom supplies to clothing items for children. Additionally, the chamber once again held a shoe collection for children in need of such basic supplies. Last year the organization collected 75 pairs of shoes with a goal of beating that this year with 100 pairs of shoes. According to chamber executive director Melanie Morrison, the chamber exceeded that goal by collecting 112 pairs, all of which were donated last weekend to the Back to School Coalition of Hillsborough County.

 

The chamber also donated checks to the Parent Teacher Association to ensure that every student in South County will be able to purchase at least two books when the book fair comes to their respective schools.

 

Each teacher in attendance was presented with a gift bag containing school supplies and special gift baskets were also presented to four area elementary schools. The special gift baskets included toiletries, socks, underwear, and shorts, along with gift cards from Staples and from Barnes & Noble.

 

According to the results of the June 2013 Horace Mann Educator Advisory Panel Survey, the majority of teachers will spend up to $400 of their own money for needed school supplies in the coming year. Those supplies will range from essential items needed by students who can’t afford them to supplies needed for classroom operation and projects. In the survey, 38 percent of teachers responding stated that more than two classroom projects had to be abandoned due to lack of funds. The State of Florida does reimburse teachers for a fraction of what the typical teacher will spend on supplies for the coming year.

 

As a result, the support of the chamber in such events has an immediate and significant impact for both teachers and their students. In the Horace Mann survey, 90 percent of teachers considered community support and involvement in schools to be either critical or very critical.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Fox13 News story on Emergency Notifications:

 

In 2013, are emergency sirens enough?

Posted: Aug 21, 2013 9:06 PM EDT Updated: Aug 21, 2013 9:07 PM EDT

By: Kristin Wright, FOX 13 News

TAMPA (FOX 13) –

A CSX train derailed at the Port of Tampa in July, spilling more than 4,000 gallons of highly flammable ethanol. The derailment raised concerns over safety at the port, as more people and businesses move downtown.

Then two weeks later, a tank at the port caught fire. Sulfur dioxide was released, potentially causing respiratory problems for people living nearby.

The city and county sent out a “shelter in place” alert, essentially telling people to stay inside.

“People don’t know what that means,” said Port Authority board member and Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman. She says the port needs a better system to warn people.

The “shelter in place” message only went out to those signed up for emergency notifications.

“I drove down Davis Blvd. There’s a lot of outdoor eating places and people are just outside, like nothing has happened and I said ‘we really need to fix this communications gap,'” Murman said.

The following week, the very same tank caught fire again. As far as hazards go, sulfur dioxide is not at the top of the scale. But ammonia, which is stored at the port, is. Had ammonia been leaking, sirens would have blared.

Downtown Resident David Noetzel says he has never even heard the sirens being tested, much less know what to do it he heard it.

“Get in the car and go?” said Noetzel. “There should be something universal in place, probably, because if something did happen over there, it would be more immediate than say a hurricane, where everyone has a week to get to the grocery store and prepare.”

The area around the port is rapidly changing, as more people move downtown. Murman says now is a good time to make better use of technology to communicate when an emergency threatens.

“We all know that a lot has changed from just blowing horns,” Murman said.

Murman says involved agencies, including The Hillsborough County Emergency Operations Center, Tampa Fire Rescue, and Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, are working together to improve communication systems.

Read more: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/23224339/2013/08/21/in-2013-are-emergency-sirens-enough#ixzz2chzjHRht
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Commissioner Murman quoted in this NewsChannel 8 article on emergency communications:

 

Port of Tampa fire prompts review of citizen alert system

Posted: Aug 09, 2013 5:03 PM EDT Updated: Aug 09, 2013 5:36 PM EDT

By Lauren Mayk

NewsChannel 8

After a fire at the Port of Tampa led to a warning for people in parts of downtown to stay indoors, a Hillsborough county commissioner is calling for a review of the system to alert people of an emergency.

“I believe we can improve upon what we have and reach more people,” said Sandra Murman, who also sits on the board of the Port Authority.

Murman wants a review of the process involving the port, the county, city and emergency responders that kicks in when there is an incident. She said response to the fire and chemical fumes Thursday worked well, but raised questions about how to reach people in a more serious situation when authorities would use a siren to spread the word about an inhalation hazard.

“I don’t think people are taking serious when the horn blows, and I’m not sure they even know what it means,” Murman said.

The siren system is designed to be heard from a mile away and is used to alert people in surrounding areas about an inhalation hazard like ammonia, which is on site at the port.

Thursday’s incident didn’t require those sirens. It involved a fire at a tank that held sulfur and the release of sulfur dioxide. The blaze was extinguished using a fire suppression system in the tank.

“We responded with Tampa Fire Rescue to the scene to try to determine what impact it would have on the port, not only from a health and safety issue but from a traffic issue,” said Mark Dubina, vice president of security at the port. “We rely on that fire department at that point to tell us what the danger is and what our response should be.”

Ultimately, authorities put out word that people in areas on the south side of downtown Tampa should stay inside because of the chemical fumes that could cause eye and throat irritations.

In situations like that, an agency – in that case the fire rescue team – becomes the “incident commander,” Dubina said.

Port security officials and tenants train for incidents and also hold “after actions” to discuss what happened and any changes that need to be made for the future, he said. Those who handle ammonia at the port also meet monthly.

In Thursday’s incident, the city of Tampa sent out messages to those who signed up for the “Alert Tampa” system.

User can sign up on the city’s website. That system also has the ability to initiate reverse 911 calls, a Tampa city spokeswoman said.

 

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tribune article on the Family Justice Center:

 

Family Justice Center asks Hillsborough for emergency donation

By Mike Salinero | Tribune Staff
Published: August 7, 2013

TAMPA — Board members of the Family Justice Center asked Hillsborough County commissioners Wednesday to give them enough money to keep the center’s doors open until October.

Commissioners heard the agency’s supporters out but offered no solutions. Commissioner Sandy Murman, a long-time advocate for services that benefit women and children, said the commission won’t decide on whether to make the requested $170,000 donation until a thorough audit of the center has been completed.

“We’ve asked all our non-profits to do this: Show us you can stay in business,” Murman said after the meeting. “It’s a great, great program, but we have to be a good steward of the taxpayers’ dollars.”

The center acts as a clearinghouse for victims of domestic violence, offering counseling, assessing danger and connecting victims with organizations that offer shelter. The agency also helps 80 to 90 victims a month get protective injunctions against violent spouses or boyfriends, Executive Director Nikki Daniels said.

“We’re the only program like this in the county,” Daniels told commissioners. “Victims and survivors can come to one place where options are available to them to get help from multiple organizations.”

The Family Justice Center was rocked when its main donor, the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, cut its annual support by half, to $300,000. The center draws its $950,000 annual budget from a variety of sources, typically raising $65,000 to $75,000 on its own from private donors. The county gave the center $100,000 this year.

Duane Bishoff, the center’s treasurer, said the cuts by the Children’s Board were not the result of anything the Family Justice Center did wrong. The agency is tightly managed with overhead of just 14 percent, and audits of the agency come back “clean and unqualified,” he said.

“Do what’s morally right and support this organization that saves countless lives every day,” Bishoff told commissioners.

Family Justice board member Michael Neely said he once counseled a woman who said she had gone to the Skyway Bridge to throw herself off but instead came to the family justice center.

Neely, a pastor at New Millennium Community Church, said the woman told him, “I told God I’m going to go to the Family Justice Center and meet with this pastor, and if I don’t get a word today, I’m going to come back to this bridge and end my life.”

After four sessions with Neely, the woman said she had decided to live.

“We are a beacon, we are a light house in this dark world of domestic violence,” Neely said.

Murman said she expected the county’s audit to be finished in a month.

msalinero@tampatrib.com

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on Amazon:

Hillsborough County Commission approves first of two incentives for Amazon

Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer

TAMPA — Hillsborough County commissioners officially added Amazon to their wish list Wednesday by approving the first of two financial incentives for the online retail giant to build a warehouse in Ruskin.

They can proceed to checkout when they take up the second and larger subsidy deal — a waiver of half the property taxes on the new distribution center for seven years — July 17.

Commissioners cast the decision as a no-brainer, likening Amazon curiously to a hurricane in terms of economic development, spinning off feeder bands of new construction in a part of the county hit hard by the recession.

“I’m a huge cheerleader for south county,” said Commissioner Sandy Murman, who represents the area where the warehouse would be built. “This is our time. We’re No. 1. This is going to be our time.”

County officials have said Amazon and its affiliates would spend $200 million to build a 1-million-square foot “fulfillment center” at the South Shore Corporate Park, a vacant expanse near Interstate 75 and State Road 674. The company says the park would employ 1,000 permanent employees, including 375 that pay at least 15 percent more than the average state wage, or $47,581.

In exchange for those 375 “well-paying” jobs, commissioners unanimously approved paying Amazon $600 for each, or a total of $225,000, in installments spread out over at least four years, starting in 2016. That represents the county’s match of an additional $2,400 for each of those jobs to be paid by the state, bringing the total cost of the subsidy to a little more than $1.1 million.

Commissioners said that’s a small price to pay for the number of jobs and the likelihood that landing Amazon will establish Hillsborough, and South Shore in particular, as ripe for business investment.

“It’s like having a perfect anchor come in and establish a store in your shopping center,” said Commissioner Victor Crist. “Now everyone else wants to co-locate to have the same address. So the potential for leveraging jobs and businesses and economic viability are endless here.

“I don’t see any downside here whatsoever.”

The Amazon distribution center would take up about 70 acres of the South Shore Corporate Park, which includes nearly 1,000 acres and capacity for nearly 5 million square feet of building space. It now houses a 90,000-square-foot warehouse that has sat empty since it was built in 2007.

Developers would be required to widen or extend a number of roads near the center that would lead from the park to other major roadways.

In addition to the subsidy approved Wednesday, commissioners will consider a second tax break next month. It would waive half of the county property tax bill on the warehouse and equipment inside it for the first seven years of operation.

That’s estimated to come to $913,680 a year, or about $6.4 million. The development also will likely qualify for an additional $2 million to $2.5 million in state incentives for the road work, county economic development director Ron Barton said Wednesday.

From the county’s standpoint, none of the money is paid until Amazon makes it capital investment and hires and retains the better-paid employees, Barton said.

“We’re giving away 50 percent of something we don’t have today,” he said. “It’s like giving a dollar to get $5.”

Barton has emphasized that Hillsborough is competing against other counties and said he expects Amazon could pick more than one site for distribution centers. The company’s decision is expected in about a month.

Amazon has discussed opening in time for either the 2014 or 2015 Christmas holiday season, Barton said.

Commission Chairman Ken Hagan, who proposed the property tax incentive approved by voters in 2010, credited the county’s aggressive business incentives program for putting South Shore in the hunt.

“It’s not a coincidence that Texas has led the nation in job creation and that the film industry has exploded in Louisiana. It’s called incentives,” Hagan said. “For a modest investment, we will receive a significant return on our investment.”

Bill Varian can be reached at varian@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3387.