Commissioner Files Suit Over Voter-Approved Transportation Tax

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL -- A county commissioner has filed a lawsuit against against Hillsborough County, the cities of Tampa, Plant City and Temple Terrace, the county's transit authority and the county clerk seeking to invalidate the transportation sales tax approved by voters Nov. 6.

County Commissioner Stacy White, who represents east and south Hillsborough County, filed the lawsuit in Hillsborough Circuit Court on Tuesday, Dec. 4.

The 1-cent sales tax for countywide transportation improvements was approved by 57 percent of the county's voters during the midterm election.

The 30-year tax is expected to raise $15.8 billion for new and improved roads, sidewalks, transit alternatives, expanded bus services and other projects intended to relieve the county's congested roadways.

White also voted against a similar amendment to the county charter to permit a sales tax for transportation in 2016.

White said he is concerned about a caveat in the amendment specifying that the tax be managed by an independent oversight commission.

That commission, he said, would be a 13-member "unelected, unbonded and unpaid committee of private citizens who are given substantial powers over this huge fund of surtax proceeds.

"The IOC is effectively given veto powers over decisions made by and projects approved by the BOCC," said White in his lawsuit.

He said he's concerned about special-interest groups dominating the committee.

"This referendum, which created a transportation surtax in our county charter, was drafted and financed by a small group of private citizens without any public vetting to place a 1-percent transportation surtax in our county charter, projected to raise about $10 billion in new taxes over the next 30 years,” White said.

Additionally, White cites several instances in his lawsuit in which the amendment violates Florida law.

“I do not believe the voters of Hillsborough County would have knowingly supported this charter amendment had they known it violated the laws of the State of Florida," White said. "The bottom line is I am not doing this in spite of voters. I am doing this for them.”

Upon learning of the lawsuit, proponents of the transportation sales tax promptly began striking back in press releases and on social media.

All for Transportation, the citizen-led initiative responsible for obtaining the 48,745 signatures needed to qualify the sales tax referendum and place it on the ballot, was the first to react, urging the county commission "to support the will of the people" and "oppose any effort to delay implementation of badly needed congestion relief and safety improvements."

All for Transportation was led by Tampa Heights attorney Tyler Hudson but was also backed by some heavy hitters including Tampa Bay Lightning owner and Water Street developer Jeff Vinik as well as Tampa philanthropist Frank Morsani.

The group spent $4 million to gather the signatures needed to place the referendum on the ballot and then convince Hillsborough County voters of the need to pass the tax.

“Today we are calling on the six other county commissioners to follow the clear direction given by voters and protect them,” said All for Transportation spokesman Brian Willis. “This referendum was thoroughly vetted before being brought before voters and we are confident it will stand up to court review. All Commissioner White’s threats will accomplish is costing taxpayers more legal fees and delaying implementation of needed transit expansion, safety improvements and congestion relief. Political stunts like a threat of a lawsuit just prove why voters demanded independent oversight in the first place and commissioners should take action tomorrow to protect the voters.”

He urged commissioners to take action by voting to support the charter referendum at Wednesday's county commission meeting, the first since the general election.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn also blasted White for filing a lawsuit via Twitter.

"This is ridiculous," he said. "This is the same commissioner that refused to even allow the voters to have the opportunity to choose for themselves......until they actually chose for themselves to tackle our transportation issues. Maybe Manatee will annex his ‘hood."

This is ridiculous. This is the same Commissioner that refused to even allow the voters to have the opportunity to choose for themselves......until they actually chose for themselves to tackle our transportation issues. Maybe Manatee will annex his ‘hood https://t.co/7xG8vxOYUJ
— Bob Buckhorn (@BobBuckhorn) December" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/BobBuckhor... 4, 2018

(For more local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)