On Monday, Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe invalidated the November ballot question seeking to levy a one percent sales tax for 30 years.
According to language on the ballot, the referendum question asked, “Should transportation improvements be funded throughout Hillsborough County, including Tampa, Plant City, Temple Terrace, Brandon, Riverview, Carrollwood and Town ’n’ Country, including projects that: build and widen roads, fix roads and bridges, expand public transit options, fix potholes, enhance bus services, improve intersections and make walking and biking safer, by levying a one percent sales surtax for 30 years and funds deposited in an audited trust fund with citizen oversight?”
Gaylord Moe, who heard arguments in the case of Karen Jaroch vs. Hillsborough County, agreed with Roach’s attorney, Samuel Salario, who claimed the language is misleading.
Supporters of the surtax aren’t happy.
“The only losers today are the residents of Hillsborough County who have again had their opportunity to fix our broken transportation system delayed,” said All for Transportation co-founder Tyler Hudson. “We will continue to pay the high price of doing nothing and the call for action will only grow louder.”
Hudson hopes the County Commission will explore every legal avenue to bring this question to the voters in a few weeks.
So, if the referendum question is invalidated, what happens to the more than 324,000 ballots already mailed that contain the verbiage?
Chief communications officer Gerri Kramer with Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections said it’s too late in the process for the ballots to be changed.
“When a public measure is ordered to be removed, we post notices pursuant to the order that votes for that measure won’t be counted,” she said. “Have no fear, though, because the rest of your ballot will be counted.”
This isn’t the first attempt at a transportation surtax in the county. Hillsborough County voters approved a 1% sales tax in 2018 that was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court in 2021. Justices said the tax was unconstitutional because it conflicted “with a state law that gives the County Commission the authority to allocate such funds.”
Before that surtax was struck down, the county collected approximately $500 million in taxes (approximately $6 million of those earmarked for Plant City) from the All For Transportation sales surtax. That money has been sitting in limbo, however it was ruled in July that those funds will be spent on a list of projects to be determined by state legislators.
Plant City’s annual budget for street maintenance is approximately $2 million.
Bill McDaniel, Plant City’s City Manager, said the judge’s ruling is an unfortunate development because the money could’ve had a positive impact on residential and commercial districts.
“With that money we’d be able to do a lot of improvements, not just filling potholes but resurfacing entire stretches of roadways,” he said.
While the referendum would’ve increased the speed at which roadway improvements are undertaken, McDaniel said the city has already approved several road improvement projects, thanks to funding from a one mil portion of the city’s property tax rate being dedicated solely to street resurfacing and related maintenance.