Over the course of the past year HART & PSTA, the transit agencies representing Hillsborough & Pinellas counties, respectively, spent $100,000 on a study mandated by the Florida Legislature about a potential merger of their respective organizations. The preliminary study showed a merger could save about $2.4 million a year, but researchers said more analysis was needed.
In January, the HART board rejected a vote for a second "desk" study," and all talk of a possible merger died after that.
But Clearwater state Senator Jack Latvala, the man spurring the study in 2012, apparently wasn't satisfied with that conclusion, and was able to get the Legislature to pass a measure last week that requires the state to fund another consolidation study at the cost of $200,000 to state taxpayers.
HART board members for the most part never supported the original consolidation idea, and thus it was no surprise this morning that they are now calling on Governor Scott to veto the funding for the new study, with only one board member - County Commissioner Sandy Murman - dissenting.