Mass Transit Backers Seek Funding To Get Agency Off Ground

By RICH SHOPES The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jun 6, 2007

TAMPA - Supporters of a proposed regional transportation authority say they'll turn to businesses and local governments for startup costs if they can't get money from Gov. Charlie Crist.

The governor two weeks ago cut a request for $1 million from the state budget that would have paid for an executive director, secretary, legal costs and office space.

That prompted the Tampa Bay Partnership, a coalition of businesses that lobbied to create the authority, to send "A Call to Action" to its 175 company members, urging them to send letters and e-mail to Crist last week to ask him to reinstate the funding.

"Other regions have gotten hundreds of millions of dollars for transportation. Now it's our turn," partnership spokesman Joe Smith said. "This is just a huge opportunity to work together."

The partnership has pushed for three years to create the agency, called the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority, after business executives cited transportation as the No. 1 obstacle to economic growth.

The authority would develop intercounty plans for toll roads, rail and express bus systems.

State legislators last month passed a bill to create the authority, and now all it requires is the governor's signature.

The partnership expects that to happen in the next couple of weeks, even though the funding issue remains up in the air.

If Crist won't come up with startup cash, the partnership and local legislators are running through some backup scenarios.

First, it would ask the Florida Department of Transportation to donate technical assistance to create the authority's regional transportation plan by July 2009, the deadline for the plan.

Don Skelton, secretary for the state transportation district that includes Tampa, said Friday that shouldn't be a problem.

DOT engineers are developing a master plan for roads and transit. The department also can arrange meetings, he said.

Next, the partnership would turn to businesses to donate office space and possibly pro bono legal advice to cut costs further.

At least initially, the authority might have to get by without an executive director and secretary, which shouldn't be a problem, Smith said.

"We may not need them anyway until later on," he said. "You have to understand this funding was for the first year of operation. Next year, we could come back with another funding request."

A spokesman for Crist said the governor vetoed the request because it was made under the Transportation Trust Fund, which pays for bridges and roads, not authorities' administrative costs. Funding Tampa's authority wouldn't be fair to other authorities that relied on local governments for their startup costs.

The bill's sponsor in the House said he hasn't given up on asking the governor for funding this year. Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said he might request money from a fund that aids communities.

If Galvano doesn't succeed, he said, he will turn to local governments in areas covered by the authority - Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota counties - and ask them to pitch in.

"If this issue is that important, then we need to show the governor and others in Tallahassee that we support it, and we'll support it by making some independent contributions," he said.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.