The Tampa Bay Business Journal published op-ed on transportation referendum written by Tampa Bay Chamber President & CEO Dr. Bob Rohrlack and Chairman of the Board of Directors Brian Adcock. The January 26, 2024 op-ed is titled, Letter: Time to return the 2018 transportation sales tax funds. Click here to read full op-ed Hillsborough transportation sales tax funds should be returned - Tampa Bay Business Journal (bizjournals.com)
The op-ed reads, in part:
While our region offers tremendous opportunities for growth, failing to address our transportation needs will put us at an economic competitive disadvantage compared to other cities in Florida and across the nation.
Hillsborough County voters remedied this situation in 2018, when they approved a 1% sales tax referendum to raise funding to alleviate a 30-year backlog of transportation projects...later struck down and the collection of sales tax was halted. This left more than $570 million in transportation funding in escrow, where it has sat for the last few years.
For years, the Tampa Bay Chamber, alongside like-minded business organizations and chamber of commerce partners, has collaborated arduously with members of the Hillsborough County delegation asking for the return of the $570 million in revenue collected from Hillsborough's transportation sales tax. When others suggested alternate uses as the best use of those funds, including a tax holiday, we intensified our chamber's efforts advocating those funds be exclusively used for the transportation crisis in our region.
Thanks to the chamber's efforts, the sales tax holiday idea was defeated in the 2023 legislative session and now looking ahead to the current 2024 legislative session, it seems that a positive step in the right direction is being made.
As part of his FY 2024-25 budget recommendations, Gov. Ron DeSantis called for the return of the $570 million in transportation sales surtax funds via the Florida Department of Transportation. The money would be transferred to the state's transportation trust fund under the purview of FDOT and the agency would authorize a list of transportation projects for the funding. Once those projects are approved, Hillsborough County and FDOT will be able to contract with each other and manage the projects.
Ideally, the legislature will approve a pathway for the collected funds to be reinvested into the projects that support safe, efficient and relevant transportation and mobility options for Hillsborough County residents... these funds are a supplement, not a replacement, to any existing transportation dollars expected to come to the region.
The Tampa Bay Chamber urges our legislative delegation to adhere to the will of the voters and commit to a plan to bring these funds back home for their intended purpose.
Contributed to TBBJ by Brian Adcock, Chairman, Tampa Bay Chamber Board of Directors; President of Adcock Financial Group and Dr. Bob Rohrlack, President & CEO, Tampa Bay Chamber