Hillsborough County appeals court order in hopes of keeping transportation tax referendum on the ballot

The fight over the Hillsborough County transportation tax isn't over. Commissioners held an emergency meeting Thursday to decide their next move after a court ruled earlier this week the referendum should be removed from the ballot.

"The goal here today is to give our voters an opportunity to choose how they'd like to see transportation invested in, and that can't be done if they don't vote," said BOCC Chair Kimberly Overman.

This comes with less than four weeks before the general election on November 8. Ballots have already been mailed out in the county, and early voting starts in a week and a half. The boards message to voters during an emergency meeting to discuss the appeal was to continue voting on the referendum.

Most people who spoke out during the hour-long special meeting said they did not support the Board filing an appeal.

"Everybody knows our roads need work, but the vast majority of the money goes to mass transit, and is not going to be going towards roads from this tax," said Chris Stranburg with Americans for Prosperity Florida.

"An appeal would be a waste of taxpayer resources and could tie this up for three to six years," Commissioner Stacy White commented.

With a 5-2 vote, the commission authorized filing an appeal, seeking a stay of Monday’s ruling, and hiring a team to help with the litigation. County lawyers say the appeal will trigger an automatic pause, meaning people can still cast their votes on this penny surtax.

"Voting is a privilege, but it's also a responsibility. So I hope that our voters will vote. They'll tell us what they want, and then we'll have an opportunity to count that vote," Overman said.

RELATED: Judge rejects Hillsborough County's one-cent tax referendum, nullifying measure on November ballot

If approved by voters, the 1% sales tax is estimated to generate more than $340 million in its first year alone to help fund a wide variety of mass transit, road, bridge, safety, sidewalk and bike lane projects throughout the county. 

Supporters say the tax is desperately needed to address the county’s mounting $13 billion backlog of unfunded road and transportation projects and to keep pace with its growing population. 

"I certainly hope it will be on the ballot, because the longer we delay making this decision, the more it is going to cost and the bigger the problem is going to get. And delaying it election cycle after election cycle, year after year is only going to play into the hands of inflation and into the hands of the population growing and us not keeping up in terms of our investment in infrastructure," said Commissioner Harry Cohen.  

On Monday Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe ruled to invalidate the measure after a legal challenge to the language used on the ballot. Moe called the language misleading and said it could be confusing to voters because it includes specific types of projects and regions of Hillsborough County that would be covered by funds raised by the proposed 30-year, 1% sales tax.

The lawsuit was filed by Karen Jaroch, a former vice chair of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Board and conservative activist. 

"Rather than asking a simple question, shall we levy a one percent transportation sales tax, they put in extra language to lure voters to vote for it," said Jaroch.

The ballot measure reads:

"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
  • Make walking and biking safer

RELATED: All for Transportation pushing a second time for Hillsborough County transportation tax

By levying a 1% sales surtax for 30 years and funds deposited in an audited trust fund with citizen oversight?"

The same language had been approved by a different judge earlier this year and is similar to a transportation tax referendum approved by voters in 2018. 

In 2021, a legal challenge from Hillsborough Commissioner Stacy White managed to strike that voter-approved tax on a technicality, leaving more than $500 million raised for transportation in limbo. 

Earlier this year, Hillsborough commissioners were keen to correct the dispute and present an essentially identical plan to voters once again. 

Yes for transportation sign.

Several Hillsborough County officials and organizations have endorsed the proposed sales tax, including Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister. 

The fight to include the referendum on the ballot this fall has been a fraught party-line battle among Hillsborough commissioners, with republican commissioners Ken Hagan and White voting against putting the tax to voters. 

"I’ve come to realize that while the plan is good, the timing is off," Commissioner Ken Hagan who supported past sales tax referendums said before a 5-2 vote in April. 

For now, voters won’t get to weigh in on the proposal a second time around, but it will still appear on the ballot. 

PREVIOUS: Judge rules penny sales tax invalidated by Florida Supreme Court must be used on Hillsborough transportation

The Hillsborough‘s Supervisor of Elections office says it’s already sent more than 300,000 mail-in ballots to voters. 

Ballots that have not yet been mailed and voting booths, set to open on October 24, will now include a notice about the court’s order.

If commissioners fail in their attempt to appeal that order, state law requires they wait another two years before they can ask voters to consider it again in the next general election.