Former Tampa City Councilman and now mayoral candidate Bob Buckhorn is calling on his former colleagues to do him a solid: place an initiative on the March ballot would create tax incentives to bring in more high tech companies to the Tampa region. And Buckhorn says if the council opts not to put in on the ballot, he’ll do so himself if he’s elected in March.
But they’ll have to put it on a fast track, as the deadline for the council to submit a measure to be put on the ballot to the Supervisors of Elections office is in two weeks, on January 14.
Speaking to CL, Buckhorn acknowledges that it’s a tight deadline, but said he originally thought the council might imitate the County Commission in approving such a measure to go on the ballot.
Citing that measure that Hillsborough County voters approved of last month at the polls, Buckhorn writes in a letter to the current council that “historically Florida has suffered from an inability to offer incentives to businesses which has put us at a competitive disadvantage. Our ability to attract and grow the jobs of the future is dependent on a number of things including the resources to successfully compete for relocations as well as to fuel the expansion of our existing businesses.”
Buckhorn says companies in bio-tech, life sciences, defense, cybersecurity, maritime and financial services would be those deserving of having the amount of their property taxes reduced under his proposal.
This article appears in Dec 30, 2010 – Jan 5, 2011.
