Collusion at the state level: Get the local money!

When I ask members of the SWFWMD governing board what’s happening with the basin boards and what it’s going to do about the loss of local tax representation and keeping local dollars for local projects, all I hear is a long sigh and maybe an inarticulate mumbling about, “advisory committees.”

So, it was apparent that something needed to be said about a scenario in which the governing board would appoint “advisory committees” to assume the role of the now-banished basin boards and board members that served the district so well for fifty years.  It’s an idea that ought to be flushed before it gets the governing board any further down the road of a bad mistake about to be made worse.

I’ve been noodling how to approach this until today when the answer was just handed to me by The Tampa Tribune.

Don’t be misled by the article’s title, “Tampa Bay Area Lawmakers Fear Fight over Expressway Authorities.”



CEO-governor Rick Scott
("Let'em eat doughnuts!")



It’s all about CEO-governor Scott and the wannabe-power-over-any-and-all-agencies-with-money, JD Alexander, wanting to toss out local control of the local Expressway Authorities. They want the state to control them so their money can be used to build other expressways for powerful legislators, needed or not. 

Sound a little like his plan to grab basin board property taxes so they can be used to build JD’s water system for Polk County?

The Tampa Bay legislative delegation is understandably and correctly livid. What’s so ironic is that the arguments they use to oppose the idea can be used equally as arguments against the governor’s not-so-secret support for disbanding SWFWMD’s basin boards.

CEO-senator JD Alexander

(By the way, I’m hearing more and more about the backroom collusion that took place out of public sight and who the scoundrels were who actually fostered and pushed the idea to get rid of the basin boards.  From a very senior SWFWMD staffer, a prominent water attorney who represents a local entity that has garnered millions of basin board taxes for his client’s projects, and even some stalwart ag officials who often supported basin taxes for ag projects, to JD Alexander’s inner sanctum.  If it’s true, you’ll probably be shocked and dismayed, but you will not be awed.  The nut to crack is, how in the world did they come to the dumbest possible conclusion that it would be a good thing to do away with the basin boards)

Here are some quotes followed by the article itself, the original publication of which can be found at: http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/sep/26/bay-area-lawmakers-fear-2012-fight-over-expressway-ar-260161/.

(If you know what Orange County commercial property manager Matthew Falconer means about "crony capitalism," please share it with me!  Please!  Maybe I'm woefully ignorant about such things but isn't that what's going on in T-Town?  Can you spell JD Alexander?)

“A pair of powerful senators, Don Gaetz and JD Alexander, tried during budget deliberations this spring to fold Hillsborough's expressway authority along with the Orlando-Orange County and Mid-Bay Bridge authorities into the Florida Turnpike Enterprise.”

“Critics, however, argued that consolidation would eviscerate local control over projects and locally collected toll revenues. Some also claimed the plan was essentially a ploy to skim revenue off financially healthy authorities to shore up troubled roadways elsewhere -- for example, a toll bridge in Gaetz's district.”

“The secretary stressed that this spring's push to consolidate the authorities came from within the Senate, not DOT. But as Prasad also noted, the governor has asked the state Government Efficiency Task Force for recommendations on the subject.”

“The task force, made up of appointees by Scott, the Senate President and House Speaker, included consolidating the local tolling agencies on its list of ideas to streamline government.”

 “Another task force member, Orange County commercial property manager Matthew Falconer, said consolidation would help to root out "crony capitalism" at "quasi-governmental agencies" with tolling or taxing power.”

“Falconer said he believes concerns about local control can be addressed perhaps by establishing citizen advisory boards. And trust accounts or "buckets" could be created so that locally collected revenue would be used on local projects only, he said.”



Sen. Rhonda Storms



“The latter idea held little appeal for (Sen. Rhonda) Storms, who pointed out that state leaders frequently plug budget gaps by raiding state trust funds supposedly dedicated to specific needs.

 "I am never comforted by folks who say, 'oh, but we'll just keep it there,' she said. The same thing would be said about whatever pot of money is generated by the local jurisdiction in toll revenue … Somebody always has their fingers crossed behind their back until the first crisis that we need it, or until the institutional memory is gone. And then it's not there."

Sue Chrzan, Hillsborough authority spokeswoman, said there's no guarantee the DOT will make a citizen advisory board's recommendation a state priority. "Our no. 1 need could be their no. 97."

So the only difference here is that Scott is saying he’ll wait until he hears what his Task Force recommends before supporting or not supporting the idea. 

Too bad he didn’t give the same consideration for the incredibly ill-advised and unwise disbanding of SWFWMD’s basin boards.

Here’s the article:

Tampa Bay Area Lawmakers Fear Fight over Expressway Authorities

By Catherine Whittenburg

The Tampa Tribune

September 26, 2011

There may not be a bill yet, but there's already plenty of concern among Bay area lawmakers that state leaders will try again to seize control of the Tampa Hillsborough County Expressway Authority.

The big question, say critics and backers alike, is whether Gov. Rick Scott will make the issue a priority in 2012.

A pair of powerful senators, Don Gaetz and JD Alexander, tried during budget deliberations this spring to fold Hillsborough's expressway authority along with the Orlando-Orange County and Mid-Bay Bridge authorities into the Florida Turnpike Enterprise.

Lacking support in the House, the effort failed. But rumblings have continued about proponents trying again when the Legislature meets again in January.

"We'll fight the battle," said Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico.

Storms is one of several Bay area lawmakers on the Senate Transportation Committee, which delivered a stern message last week about the proposal to the state's new transportation secretary.

Committee chairman Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, warned against tackling the issue as proponents did this spring — by sidestepping Latvala's panel to handle it in a budget committee then-headed by Gaetz.

Said Latvala on Wednesday, "I'm going to be very hopeful that we're not going to try to do issues like expressway authority consolidation as part of the budget — and I'm going to, certainly, oppose that, if that comes along."

Supporters of consolidation had said this spring that the move would have saved at least $24 million in administrative overhead and poised the state to take advantage of a better bonding position to construct $1.7 billion in additional roads.

Thursday, Gaetz said lawmakers would "rue the day" that they failed to take advantage of those savings.

Critics, however, argued that consolidation would eviscerate local control over projects and locally collected toll revenues. Some also claimed the plan was essentially a ploy to skim revenue off financially healthy authorities to shore up troubled roadways elsewhere -- for example, a toll bridge in Gaetz's district.

Gaetz, R-Niceville, who takes over as Senate president in November 2012, continued last week to deny that allegation, saying that the final proposal this spring would have prevented the money from travelling between regions.

Wednesday, Sen. Jim Norman berated Ananth Prasad for what he described as DOT's dismissal of the expressway authorities' counter-offer to take over state-run toll roads in their region.

That would have allowed local authorities to pay the state up to $5.4 billion in exchange for control of roadways like the Suncoast Parkway, Sunshine Skyway and others.

"They had funding plans that would've … given you cash upfront for reinvestments to go forward," said Norman, R-Tampa. "Y'all just pushed back, you didn't look at the plans. I sat there like, I felt like I was being patted on the head."

Prasad, appointed by Scott in April, said he would review the proposal again.

The secretary stressed that this spring's push to consolidate the authorities came from within the Senate, not DOT. But as Prasad also noted, the governor has asked the state Government Efficiency Task Force for recommendations on the subject.

The task force, made up of appointees by Scott, the Senate President and House Speaker, included consolidating the local tolling agencies on its list of ideas to streamline government.

 Task force vice-chairwoman Lizbeth Benaquisto, R-Ft. Myers, also chairs the Senate budget committee formerly headed by Gaetz that approved the consolidation proposal in the spring. She did not respond this week to a request for comment about potential consolidation legislation for 2012.

Another task force member, Orange County commercial property manager Matthew Falconer, said consolidation would help to root out "crony capitalism" at "quasi-governmental agencies" with tolling or taxing power.



Matthew Falconer, running for Orange County Mayor
 (no, he's on the right, not the one in the middle)



Falconer said he believes concerns about local control can be addressed perhaps by establishing citizen advisory boards. And trust accounts or "buckets" could be created so that locally collected revenue would be used on local projects only, he said.

The latter idea held little appeal for Storms, who pointed out that state leaders frequently plug budget gaps by raiding state trust funds supposedly dedicated to specific needs.

"I am never comforted by folks who say, 'oh, but we'll just keep it there,'" she said. "The same thing would be said about whatever pot of money is generated by the local jurisdiction in toll revenue … Somebody always has their fingers crossed behind their back until the first crisis that we need it, or until the institutional memory is gone. And then it's not there."

Sue Chrzan, Hillsborough authority spokeswoman, said there's no guarantee the DOT will make a citizen advisory board's recommendation a state priority. "Our no. 1 need could be their no. 97."

Gaetz said Thursday that he won't sponsor consolidation legislation in 2012. He continues to support the idea, but "I don't believe the issue has legs at all, unless the governor makes it a governor priority."

Scott told reporters in early August that he wanted to take a closer look at the expressway authorities, how they spend money, incur debt "and if there some synergies in merging them."

Asked if Scott plans to push the idea in 2012, spokesman Lane Wright said the governor would announce his legislative agenda soon. "Previously, he has said this is a perfect example of an idea that should be vetted through the Government Efficiency Task Force. We need to see if it makes sense before moving forward."

Absent a major push from the governor, the idea still appears to be a heavy lift in the House, where Speaker Dean Cannon said this week he remains unconvinced.

Cannon, R-Winter Park, said that he's open to finding "efficiencies" within the expressway system but not by combining the Hillsborough County Expressway Authority and the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority into the DOT.