Tampa, Fl
From: Eye On Tampa Bay
Posted by: Sharon Calvert
Hillsborough County - you have a problem!
At the June 15th BOCC meeting Hillsborough County staff
recommended handing $700K to engineering firm HNTB for a taxpayer
funded PR campaign in support of the $18 Billion rail tax on the
November ballot.
The County knows they are treading on very thin ice launching a
publicly financed campaign for a political issue - the monster rail tax
referendum.
To cover for this wasteful and
abusive use of taxpayer dollars, County staff was forced to repeatedly state at
the June 15th meeting the County will comply with State law. County staff
was even compelled to state they will have to continuously check with the
County Attorney to ensure they are complying with State law.
This is the same County Attorney who did not warn county
commissioners the 2018 All for Transportation (AFT) rail tax had legal issues.
The County still owes taxpayers a refund of $562 MILLION of illegal AFT tax
dollars unlawfully collected.
The same Tampa Centric 5 Democrat commissioners who put the $18
Billion rail tax on the ballot - Kimberly Overman, Mariella Smith, Pat Kemp,
Gwen Myers and Harry Cohen - voted yes for this unethical use of tax dollars
for a political issue.
Commissioner White voted no and Commissioner Hagan, who had just
spoken on the previous agenda item, was suddenly nowhere to be found and did
not vote.
HNTB has given $1000 to the 2022 campaigns of Commissioners
Hagan, Myers, Cohen and candidate Michael Owen. HNTB gave $15K to the pro rail
tax PAC Moving Hillsborough Forward in 2010.
The $18 Billion rail tax is a boondoggle that
cannot be sold on its merits because it forces taxpayers in unincorporated
Hillsborough to pay for costly rail and transit in the city of Tampa. The
majority of the money will be spent in the city of Tampa and unincorporated
Hillsborough will not get the new auto-lane capacity they desperately
need.
The transportation "Open Houses" the County held
earlier this year that taxpayers already paid for were a flop. They flopped
because the County got caught misleading the public.
This post is contributed by EYE ON
TAMPA BAY. The views expressed in this post are the blog publisher's and do not
necessarily reflect those of the publisher of BayPost Internet.
Cross Posted with permission from: Eye On Tampa Bay
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