- Ferrell Little Bonnemort
- Victor Crist at Tampa Chamber of Commerce Hob Nob
Although it hasn't received much media attention, the Hillsborough County Commissioners will need to decide over the course of the next month whether they will support putting up a tax referendum on this November's ballot. The measure would ask citizens if they want to increase their property taxes to pay for 19 different park projects, as well as the Friendship Trail Bridge.
County Administrator Mike Merrill made the suggestion last month in advance of a board vote on whether to demolish the bridge or allow a citizen group to continue to work on funding to create a public-private partnership to revive and restore the bridge, which the state Department of Transportation deemed was unsafe back in 2008 (they voted to delay the demolition).
Merrill put on the table an $84.9 million bond issue that would fund parks, transportation projects, service centers and the Friendship Trail Bridge - which could receive $27.5 million directly if the measure were to pass. The increase would be roughly $25 a year the owner of a house valued at $165,000.
But before voters could have their say, the BOCC will have to vote to put it on the ballot. And from what CL has heard from commissioners in recent days, the chances of that happening look remote.
