HARTride 2012
July 1st, 2007, 01:58 AM
Okay, here's something I think is ridiculous. A St. Pete Beach commissioner wants to have all the Pinellas gulf beaches from Bellair southward to St. Pete Beach to secede from the rest of Pinellas County so that they could keep more tourism dollars. This comes in lieu of impending budget cuts due to the property tax reform mess. Personally I dislike the plan because of the posibility of it failing (and failing miserably). If I can recall correctly, didn't New Tampa try to do the same from the city of Tampa a few years back (try to create it's own jurisdiction)?
Anyways, here's the article from Bay News 9.
A beaches-only county?
Saturday, June 30, 2007
St. Pete Beach has one huge dollar sign attached to it.
And if one St. Pete Beach commissioner gets his way, more of those dollars will stay beachside.
Pinellas County receives funds generated by St. Pete Beach and other beach communities to the tune of more than $15 million every year.
Dollar amounts like that have beach leaders considering a radical plan: secede from the county and form their a beaches-only county.
"We could have our own municipality as far as commissioners,'' said St. Pete Beach Commissioner Harry Metz. "We could have our own law services, we could our own transportation."
And St. Pete Beach wouldn't be alone.
Metz has proposed eight of the other beach communities, from Treasure Island northward up the beach to Belleair Beach break off from Pinellas and become part of a new county.
"It would be a financial windfall for the barrier islands to be their own county," said Metz, who estimated the new barrier-island county could generate $38 million a year - mainly from tourists and property owners.
But some residents are skeptical about cutting ties with the county.
"Then we're going and spending money for every little thing we're getting from the (Pinellas) county,'' said St. Pete Beach resident Anatole Butas of a beaches-only county. "So I'm not too sure where the tradeoff would be. "
And others area leaders have said the overhead costs would be too high for a beaches-only county.
Still, with budget cuts looming for all the beach communities, and $950,000 being cut in St. Pete Beach, Metz insists his plan is a viable one. Metz said he plans to bring up the proposal again at the next budget hearing.
Anyways, here's the article from Bay News 9.
A beaches-only county?
Saturday, June 30, 2007
St. Pete Beach has one huge dollar sign attached to it.
And if one St. Pete Beach commissioner gets his way, more of those dollars will stay beachside.
Pinellas County receives funds generated by St. Pete Beach and other beach communities to the tune of more than $15 million every year.
Dollar amounts like that have beach leaders considering a radical plan: secede from the county and form their a beaches-only county.
"We could have our own municipality as far as commissioners,'' said St. Pete Beach Commissioner Harry Metz. "We could have our own law services, we could our own transportation."
And St. Pete Beach wouldn't be alone.
Metz has proposed eight of the other beach communities, from Treasure Island northward up the beach to Belleair Beach break off from Pinellas and become part of a new county.
"It would be a financial windfall for the barrier islands to be their own county," said Metz, who estimated the new barrier-island county could generate $38 million a year - mainly from tourists and property owners.
But some residents are skeptical about cutting ties with the county.
"Then we're going and spending money for every little thing we're getting from the (Pinellas) county,'' said St. Pete Beach resident Anatole Butas of a beaches-only county. "So I'm not too sure where the tradeoff would be. "
And others area leaders have said the overhead costs would be too high for a beaches-only county.
Still, with budget cuts looming for all the beach communities, and $950,000 being cut in St. Pete Beach, Metz insists his plan is a viable one. Metz said he plans to bring up the proposal again at the next budget hearing.