Sunday April 13, 2014 Nibbling at the Edges - Funding the Vision

This week St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman set out the results of his first 100 days in office and the Vision that he will pursue for the City. You can read some of my observations at Kriseman First 100 Days - 5 Questions

The trust of my 5 questions in the Post is where the money to make the Vision appear will come from?

The Kriseman administration would have us believe that they will simply shift some funds around and all will be well. The implication may even be that most of the shifting will come from comparable programs and so it would be kind of a tit for tat from the funding perspective.

However in my Post Casual Conversation With Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin, The Deputy Mayor said this: "A lot of the shift that we are exploring and will probably make has to do with boxes we have been able to check. As we continue to evolve as a City, there will be things and infrastructure that require significant investment at one point, we do that, we build that house, and then we are able to move on. Ideally we won't have 'losers,' necessarily. We will be able to shift our priorities to reflect those things we have not been able to attend to before."

The problem here is the City's infrastructure. Some of those "houses" the Deputy Mayor mentions are in a pretty poor state of repair. Drive around and note the streets. Go to a park look at the landscaping. The water system and the sanitary sewer and storm water systems are all in need of serious work.

Here's the point. If the Kriseman administration takes funding from the social support programs the arts, the homeless, or anything that affects Beach Drive or the Chamber they will scream like a cat dropped in hot water and the media will be all over it.

On the other hand if the administration through the Budget process starts taking funding from IT, Public Works which includes Storm Water, Pavement and Traffic Operations, Sanitation, Water Resources,  and  Leisure Services which includes Golf Courses, Libraries, Parks and Recreation  and maybe a small nibble from Police and Fire those directors have no megaphone, no safe public stage to set forth the real impact of any "shift" they will just do what you do when you have fewer resources, they will do less.

The whole budget process needs to be very transparent, and the actual impacts of these moves need to be disclosed and not sugar coated so both the public and City Council can review them and make serious recommendations.

The Vision is commendable and the Goals for South St. Pete are absolutely on target, but care must be taken to not quietly strip out needed resources and end up leaving all of St. Pete worse off than when the Vision effort began.

E-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net. Or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share on Facebook and Twitter.
Disclosures: Contributor to No Tax for Tracks

PSTA and Greenlight Moving to the Defensive

Some late polling shows PSTA and their billion dollar GreenLight tax grab may be in trouble. You can see the results of the Saintpetersblog sanctioned Poll by St. Pete Polls at New Poll shows Greenlight Pinellas in grave trouble.

Summary 48% opposed, 23% unsure, 29% approve.

In the Saintpetersblog Post, Brad Miller is quoted: “I, and dozens of Pinellas elected officials including the PSTA Board are traveling the county to educate our residents on this plan. We continually are told by seniors, veterans and families that they want and need this plan. People like the idea of removing the PSTA property tax and sharing the costs with our visitors.”

First the sales tax referendum does NOT eliminate the property tax, only the state legislature can do that and so far they have not shown much inclination to move forward. Typical PSTA Administration and Board double speak.

Second, I don't share Mr. Miller's enthusiasm for our visitor's contribution to his sales tax effort. It doesn't take many tourists deciding to go up to Pasco or down to Manatee County to avoid the high bed taxes and highest sales tax in the state to have a substantial economic impact.

Finally, note the band of traveling supporters; PSTA staff and local politicians. Notably missing, anyone from the general public. In fact you might want to note who these "elected officials" are that are willing to stick you with a 14% increase in your sales tax, and take that into account when they come up for reelection. You can see a list of the elected officials on the PSTA Board here PSTA Board of Directors.

No doubt, given the amount of your tax dollars PSTA is willing to spend to sell you this boondoggle, they will shop around and find a pollster who will gladly provide them a contra poll. Look for those results to be highly touted in the supporting local media.

This Referendum item is not about public transportation, it's all about the biggest uncontrolled money grab in recent history. You can read the actual Ordinance (Law) you will be approving if you vote yes at Greenlight Pinellas Tax Ordinance.

 Click this link and read it. Where are the controls, where is the requirement in the Ordinance that the bus system be expanded, what are those "to be determined interlocal agreements"?

This is your money we are talking about.

This sales tax referendum is the most poorly conceived, poorly thought out, misleading ballot initiative to be put forth in Pinellas County in the last decade including the questionable ethics and tactics being used by PSTA to promote it.

Some elected officials like Jeff Brandes are starting to ask the right questions.

The only way to GO on GreenLight is to vote NO.

E-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net, or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb)Friend request. See More of Doc at Bay Post Internet, WATCHDOGWIRE-FLORIDA and St.Pete Patch, Gulfport Patch, Clearwater Patch, Palm Harbor Patch, Largo Patch.

Disclosures: Contributor to No Tax for Tracks

Kriseman First 100 Days - 5 Questions

People seem to make a lot of new Mayors first 100 days.  The Kriseman administration has put forth a bewildering series of statements detailing the Mayor's first 100 days in office. You can see a Video of the New Vision at New Vision Values and Strategic Pathways.

Interested in Former Mayor Bill Foster's first 100 days? Check out Peter Schorsch on Bill Fosters first 100 days .

There is not a lot written about the first 100 days of the Baker Administration. The primary reason being; we were all too busy trying to keep up with the new Mayor and what he wanted done - NOW.

Kriseman and his senior staff have laid out an impressive Vision, and one that I quite frankly think the City staff can buy into. But this new Vision will require the new Mayor and his senior staff to take some strong and unpopular positions.

Case in point in my post A Casual Conversation with St. Petersburg Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin the new Deputy Mayor touched very lightly on what will soon become a major issue when she said, "I think the most significant thing we can accomplish is aligning resources with our priorities in a way that sustains beyond our time here. We have a Budget that isn't necessarily completely aligned with where the City would like to go." It's all about the value proposition in my mind," Dr Tomalin continued. "And it translating the work we're doing in the realignment of the Budget, in a way the community understands how their investment is best serving them."

Translation: We are going to move some money around to make all of this happen. Somebody's ox is going to get gored.

If you read through the links, watch the video, and read the 100 day accomplishments they look pretty impressive and to some degree they are, but a lot of the things on those long lists are just the City staff doing

The Peoples Budget Review and Greenlight Pinellas - Strange Bedfellows

When The Peoples Budget Review (PBR) was launched, William Mansell reported in PATCH:  The Peoples Budget Review Launches "This is a grassroots campaign to give those who live and work in St. Pete a voice in the city’s budgeting process," said USF St. Pete student and People's Budget review organizer Christian Haas. 

From Their website Peoples Budget Review they say "At the local level, the budget is one of the most important policy decisions that impacts our quality of life. It’s the process through which we prioritize our shared resources for basic services that keep clean water in our homes, police on our streets, and books in our libraries. Unfortunately, every year the overwhelming majority of residents have little, if any, say-so in these local budget decisions. The groups who typically speak the loudest are special interests, while tens of thousands of everyday people remain on the sidelines. The People’s Budget review seeks to give those silent thousands a way to speak out. We believe that you don’t need to be an economist or an accountant to know what matters most in your community. That’s why we’ve been going door-to-door, into public spaces, and using social media to bring the people’s most pressing priorities directly to elected officials. We invite you to be one of them."

The question becomes why would a group that purports itself to be about the people and fiscal responsibility support a Sales Tax increase that conforms to none of their stated objectives?

In the Greenlight Pinellas Tax Ordinance that voters are being asked to approve, there are no fiscal controls, no commitment to expanding the bus system and only vague references to interlocal agreements for something undefined and a lot of talk about bonds.

 

When you boil it all down this Tax referendum is just that a tax referendum. It is NOT about public transportation, it is about putting $130 million dollars annually in the hands of those who have already proven they don't manage public funds very well and that are overly influenced by the same power brokers in this County that will benefit most from a train that goes nowhere near where public transportation is needed.

There is nothing wrong with supporting public transportation and a tax that provides for it, but this tax proposal does not work for anybody but the special interests.

Perhaps the folks leading the PBR are simply trying to move themselves back onto the center stage of the local media. Perhaps they are trying to curry some favor with the local establishment. Whatever the case their support for GreenLight Pinellas defies understanding.

The PBR needs to forget about the train and the buses and follow the money. That's what they said they are all about. If the PBR is really about the money its control and responsible use for the public good, there is no way this Ordinance will pass a careful inspection.

The folks at the Peoples Budget review need to put down their press clippings and do their home work.

 e-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net, or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb)Friend request. See More of Doc at Bay Post Internet, WATCHDOGWIRE-FLORIDA and St.Pete Patch, Gulfport Patch, Clearwater Patch, Palm Harbor Patch, Largo Patch.
Disclosures: Contributor to No Tax for Tracks

Greenlight Pinellas are They Following the Rules?

The Pinellas Suncoast transit Authority, PSTA continues to come under scrutiny for its direct campaigning to pass a 14% sales tax increase and raise its revenue by almost 300%

If there was ever a case of misusing public funds to feather their own nest this is it.

State Senator Jeff Brandes R. St. Petersburg has requested the Florida Department of Transportation's inspector general conduct a review of the PSTA GreenLight publicity campaign. You can read more in Christopher O'Donnell's Tampa Bay Tribune article: Pinellas agency Greenlight spending questioned.

There is more detail on the Brandes request at Saintpetersblog: Sen. Jeff Brandes calls for audit of Greenlight Pinellas.

The inquiry should probably be referred to the Florida Ethics Commission and some questions asked about the propriety of PSTA board appointed public officials being part of this effort and also PSTA's successful effort to eliminate any dissenting voices from its Board.

In any case the whole Greenlight effort is starting to smell like two day old Florida road kill in July.

The sales tax referendum is not about an expanded bus system it is all about passing a poorly written Ordinance that immediately triples PSTA's revenue with no controls included in the Ordinance. You can read the Ordinance here Greenlight Pinellas Tax Ordinance.

There are no commitments in the Ordinance to actually expand the bus system, only PSTA's vague promises, and there is more in the Ordinance about bonds than buses.

The objective of the PSTA and its high profile supporters is to get the sales tax passed; spin off a bond issue to build the train that does not go where it should and no one will ride, and tie up this sales tax and the revenue it generates for decades to come.

That's the story that needs to reach the residents of Pinellas County.

Either the Florida department of Transportation or the Ethics Commission needs to step in, do a full scale investigation and while they are at it strongly suggest that some of the YES people on the board be replaced with some dissenting voices.

Given the efforts of the PSTA Administration, the Board and YES-GreenLight and the lengths to which they have already gone, no voter in Pinellas County in their right mind should even consider voting yes on this referendum and turning over and additional $100 Million annually for these people to mismanage.

e-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net, or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb)Friend request. See More of Doc at Bay Post Internet and St.Pete Patch, Gulfport Patch, Clearwater Patch, Palm Harbor Patch, Largo Patch.
Disclosures: Contributor to No Tax for Tracks