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Article Courtesy of The
Tampa Bay Times
By Barbara Behrendt
Published November 2, 2022
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NEW PORT RICHEY — Maria Tsamis was still unpacking boxes in her new Hunter’s
Ridge home last year when she found a very unwelcoming notice in her mailbox.
The letter from Pasco County told her that she would owe approximately $6,000,
her share of the cost to repave her residential street.
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This week, she told
county commissioners that the concept of neighbors paying
for their own paving was “very different” from where she
came from in New York, where taxes covered the cost.
Pasco commissioners took a first step this week toward a
system of paying for residential roadwork that more closely
resembles Tsamis’ past experience. If approved, the county
would assess residents across Pasco for neighborhood
roadwork as part of their annual property tax bill and
repave roads on a rotating schedule.
Pasco’s longtime residential road paving program is
different from those of many other local governments across
the country. It requires residents to petition the county to
do the repaving and then convince their neighbors to sign on
in support and agree to help pay for it, often at a cost of
thousands of dollars for each household.
That has led to years of routinely acrimonious public
hearings pitting neighbors against neighbors.
Over the next 30 years, Pasco estimates it is facing a $1.2
billion bill to maintain residential roads, County Public
Infrastructure, Fiscal and Business Administration director
Justin Grant told commissioners. He added, “The problem with
the current (paving) program is that it does not collect
sufficient revenue to sustain itself” because the cost of
the work often runs more than what residents are billed. |
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Pasco County is considering a new way to pay for
residential road paving projects — on future tax bills. The current
system involving petitions signed by neighbors and special
assessments has been controversial and has not covered the long-term
costs of such projects.
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Hugh Townsend, president of the Hunter’s Ridge Homeowners Association, agreed
that a change is needed. He said that Tsamis and other residents in that
neighborhood consider the bill for their roadwork “draconian.”
He said the proposed change, to add the cost to property tax bills across the
county, “is the fairest and most reasonable way in a modern society to maintain
the roads.”
Commissioners voted unanimously to begin the transition to a property-tax-based
system that would include all property owners who would benefit from future
paving projects. Residents of Pasco cities, those who live in subdivisions with
community development districts, and homeowners’ associations that fully pay to
maintain community roads through resident fees would not be part of the future
tax.
Pasco adopted its current residential road paving process in 1985, changing
aspects of it over the years.
Not only has the system not paid for itself, requiring supplemental county
funding, it also doesn’t offer a way to bring substandard and dirt roads into
the rotation and doesn’t provide for continued maintenance. Grant likened the
new system to preventive maintenance on a car to avoid costly repairs.
“I’m really glad this is coming forward,” said commission chairperson Kathryn
Starkey.
Placing the cost of upgrading roads on the tax bill will provide a consistent
and complete way to fund that activity, Grant said. County staff will have to
figure out the cost, how to bill only properties that will benefit and how to
prioritize projects over the coming months.
If the plan proceeds, the first tax assessment to Pasco property owners would be
a year from now.
Starkey and Commissioner Jack Mariano both said they would like to see a tiered
system for people who live on dirt roads and want them paved. People along dirt
roads should pay for basic paving before being included, they said.
County Attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder said most counties use the system Pasco is
now using just for paving dirt roads. Residents typically pay for paving through
a special assessment and then they are brought into the county’s repaving
rotation.
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