Government Digest 02/26/10

Lee approves huge land buy
LEE COUNTY — County commissioners approved the purchase of three parcels at its Feb. 23 meeting totaling 1,213 acres for $36.3 million, or roughly $30,200 per acre. Located in the city of Fort Myers, a portion of the property is along the north side of Buckingham Road and State Road 82. The sellers, Keystone Creek LLC, and C-Hack LLC, originally sought $65 million for the parcels. The county purchased the properties through an option agreement allowing the land to be acquired in four stages. The initial purchase is for 517 acres for $10.8 million. The remaining acreage may be purchased as funds are available from the county's Conservation 20/20 capital fund. Some of the land may be used for future road rights-of-way. To date, 22,684 acres have been purchased through the program.

Port Manatee seeks bids
MANATEE COUNTY — The Manatee County Port Authority is seeking bids for a major dredging project at Port Manatee. Dredging of the port's new Berth 12 will provide a navigational depth of 41 feet for ships utilizing the south channel area. The nearly 1,600-foot-long berth is designed to accommodate containerized shipping, and is expected to be operational by late 2010. Berth 12 completes a $200 million port expansion project started in 1999. For more information, see the request for proposal at www.portmanatee.com/requests.aspx.

Rubio extends lead over Crist
FLORIDA — A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio adding to his lead over Gov. Charlie Crist in their U.S. Senate Republican primary race. A month ago Rubio took a 49% to 37% lead after the poll showed them tied at 43% in December. Now, Rubio has an 18 percentage point lead according to the latest telephone poll results putting him ahead 54% to 36%. The seat was originally vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez. Crist filled the seat with his chief of staff, George LeMieux, to serve the rest of Martinez term, but LeMieux is not seeking a full term.

Mayors: 'Stop passing the buck'
TALLAHASSEE — Faced with declining property values and tax revenue, the Florida League of Mayors wants the state to stop unfunded mandates and passing other legislation that ends up costing cities money to enforce or implement.

The “Stop Passing the Buck” initiative was rolled out Feb. 18. It will evaluate the impact of state legislation by asking five basic questions:

1) Does the bill pass the cost of a state responsibility to local taxpayers?

2) Does the bill limit local communities' ability to govern themselves?

3) Does the bill create new mandates that cost local taxpayers money?

4) Does the bill respect the basic tenets of “home rule”

5) Is the negative impact of the bill especially onerous to local taxpayers?

The League will give each bill a “pass the buck” score judging how bad bills are for property taxpayers. Wayne Poston, mayor of Bradenton, is the immediate past president of the League and serves on its board of directors.

Sansom resigns House seat
TALLAHASSEE — Former Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom, R-Destin, has resigned his District 4 seat. Sansom, 47, has been the subject of an ongoing investigation and House ethics charges tied to a budget line item for a $6 million airport hangar. That building was ostensibly for Northwest State College which also hired Sansom, the same day he became Speaker on Nov. 18, 2008. In a Feb. 21 letter to Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, Sansom wrote, “... this decision should not be received as an admission of wrongdoing. On the contrary, I have steadfastly maintained that I am innocent of any wrongdoing and I will never relent from that position.” The House select committee on standards of official conduct met Feb. 22 to discuss the matter, but Samson's resignation made the hearing moot.

Backing for downtown Rays
TAMPA — It's was no surprise when BuildItDowntownTampa.org responded favorably Feb. 19 to the ABC (“A Baseball Community”) Coalition report issued last month recommending downtown Tampa as the best location for a future stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays. Calling it “one of the most important public policy matters our region is facing,” the one-page response posted on its Web site, adds, “Although government will be an important partner as this initiative progresses, we believe the Bay Area's corporate community needs to be the driving force behind a new stadium.” A new retractable roof stadium may cost $550 million. The Rays current lease for the city of St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field runs through the 2026 season. The 28-page ABC report may be found at http://abc-baseball.com/news/presentations.

MEETINGS

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
The Metropolitan Planning Organization meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 2, in the board of county commissioners' chambers in County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd., 2nd floor. For more information, contact Linda Ferraro at [email protected] or at (813) 272-5940.

MANATEE COUNTY
The county commission will hold a strategic session at 9 a.m. Monday, March 1, in the Manatee Room, fifth floor Manatee County administration building, 1112 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.

CHARLOTTE COUNTY
The Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority meets at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 3, in the Charlotte County Administration Center, 18500 Murdock Circle, Room 119, Port Charlotte. For more information go to www.regionalwater.org or call Ray Pilon at (941) 316-1776.

COLLIER COUNTY
The Community Redevelopment, Bayshore Gateway Triangle Advisory Board, meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, at the Bayshore/Gateway CRA Office, 4069 Bayshore Drive, Naples.