While Tampa Mayor eyes 16% property tax increase, residents ask why other fees haven’t been raised before upping millage

“This is an entirely different city than it was three decades ago,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said last week during her 2024 budget presentation to City Council. Castor asked council members to approve a 1% millage increase in next year’s budget to fund what she called “critical projects and services.”

Tampa’s current millage rate is 6.2076. According to Castor, the proposed increase would make it 7.2076, an average cost of $19.29 per month—roughly $240 annually—for residents whose homes are assessed at $281,495. Council member Bill Carlson asked the administration to confirm that the 1% increase translates to 16%. Dennis Rogero, Tampa’s chief financial officer, explained that the jump from 6.2% to 7.2% would mean homebuyers could see a 16% increase in property taxes.

“We are decades behind in transportation needs and years behind in public safety needs,” Rogero said of the city’s infrastructure. “A single-year increase is not gonna move the needle.”

According to Rogero, Tampa’s millage rate is lower than Miami, Orlando, and St. Pete. Council member Lynn Hurtak pointed out that those counties also have a transportation tax that Tampa doesn’t. Hurtak says Tampa can’t create a transportation tax like Penny for Pinellas because only the county can do that.

“Those other counties, they’re able to fund their transportation needs, and we simply aren’t,” Hurtak said at the meeting. “Yes, we will have a millage increase close to those folks, but they pay taxes above towards transportation that we aren’t.”

Rogero cited inflation as the primary reason more funds are needed.

“I remain very positive,” Rogero said. “But, I would be remiss if I didn’t share with you, and I’m sure you already know we continue to be in a very challenging financial environment.”

Stephanie Poynor, president of the Tampa Homeowners Association of Neighborhoods, asked the Council why fees haven’t been raised before upping millage. Poynor says she’s found many fees that haven’t been raised since the early 2000s.

“I don’t mind paying a little bit more,” Poynor said at last week’s meeting. “But my problem is we’ve got fees that haven’t been raised since 1998…Why do we not have a graduated system?”

The recommended budget allocates 55% of general fund expenditures to public safety, or $368.9 million. Last year, Tampa budgeted 62% or $300.9 million for public safety.

Dollarwise, Castor’s proposed public safety budget is the largest presented. Percentage-wise, though, it’s much less than previous years. In FY2021, that budget was 65% or $295 million. In FY2020, public safety got 62% or $268 million.

The central government gets 25.4%, economic development gets 5%, parks, and recreation 9.5%, and public works 5.1%.

If approved, the Tampa Police Department and Tampa Fire Rescue would get 21% of the proposed increase. Recently appointed TPD Chief Lee Bercaw asked for 30 additional officers, costing $9 million. He also wants $3.5 million for new vehicles and $1.2 million for “transparency,” including smartphones for all officers.

Tampa Fire Rescue Chief Barbara Tripp told the council additional funds could pay for much-needed firefighter personnel and equipment, including station repairs and improvements.

As recommended by Fitch & Associates in their report, Tripp maintains adding more personnel is a quicker fix than adding costly new stations. “We should fill the stations with appropriate resources to provide the community with the required level of service,” Tripp said.

TFR’s local chapter 754 president Nick Stocco says new stations are needed before personnel can be added.

“Hillsborough Fire Rescue asked for 28 new stations last week, and we asked for zero,” Stocco said at last week’s meeting. “More than 70% of our stations are past life expectancy.”

According to Stocco, former Mayor Pam Iorio began budgeting for an additional downtown station in 2006. That station was supposed to be finished by 2011, but the great recession hit, and it has yet to happen. Stocco called the proposed public safety allocation “disrespectful.”

The increase splits five ways: public safety, housing, transportation, parks and recreation, and new and replacement vehicles for the city’s fleet. Rogero says they’ll use a combination of cash and bonds with grant-matching dollars if passed. Transportation’s budget alone could go from $137 million to an estimated $282 million.

Housing would get 20% of the increase, using the funds to reach Castor’s goal of 10,000 affordable units by 2027. According to Nicole Travis, Tampa’s development and economic opportunity administrator, 2,034 units are completed or underway, with another 3,084 planned. That still won’t be enough units under projected growth, though.

“The city of Tampa is expected to see approximately a 20% increase in households by 2030,” Travis said. “That’s an additional 32,000 households in the next seven years.”

Travis said 26,000 affordable units are needed to address the housing gap for household incomes at or below 50%. In Tampa, 50% of the average area median income is $43,450 for a family of four. According to Zillow, the average cost for a two-bedroom apartment in Tampa is $2,138 per month. The increase means $9 million annually, which Travis says could turn into $134 million over five years.

Stocco, with the firefighters union, told the council that fire safety inspection fees haven’t been raised since 1998. Creative Loafing reached out to the City of Tampa about those fees.

“The City is looking at areas where fee increases may be needed and can be supported, but there are legal restrictions that make fee increases an unfeasible alternative to property taxes,” Adam Smith, Tampa’s marketing and communications director, told CL via email. “State statutes bar municipalities from increasing fees to generate revenue, considering that to be an unlawful tax, for instance. The state also restricts what fees can be spent on and/or how they can be raised. For example, if the City increases zoning application fees, the fee would have be specially tied to what it costs the staff to review an application.”

A budget workshop with the City Council and the administration is scheduled for Aug. 14 at 5 p.m. The first two public hearings for budget adoption are Sept.5 and Sept.19. The budget is available for residents to view via tampa.gov.

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This article appears in Aug 3-9, 2023.