NEW PORT RICHEY – Pasco County commissioners convened Dec. 16 to discuss priorities for the 2025 legislative session with members of the Florida Legislature.
Pasco County’s state delegation includes senators Danny Burgess, Ed Hooper and Blaise Ingoglia as well as representatives Jeff Holcomb, Randy Maggard, Kevin Steele and Brad Yeager.
Hooper and Maggard were there while staff from other leaders’ offices were also at the table. Hooper, whose district includes Pasco and Pinellas counties, said the discussion was a great idea.
“It’s always nice for the legislators and the local county governance to get together because we don’t often get a chance to exchange ideas enough and to really find out what’s important to the citizens of those counties who have these types of meetings,” Hooper said. “I consider this a plus – a bonus – for both the county of Pasco and the legislative delegation. Let’s find out what the real priorities are. Let’s see if we can be successful.”
Pasco County’s presentation involved two parts: policies and appropriations. County Administrator Mike Carballa said commissioners have met in workshop and in regular session to narrow down policy proposals they think will benefit citizens as well as appropriations that will help better leverage tax dollars.
Here are a few of the policies proposals that were discussed:
Inmate medical costs
Pasco County requests a member of the House of Representatives introduce a local bill to cap hospitalization rates for inmates.
“We have an inmate population of about 1,700 inmates and currently we’re paying up to $2.25 million annually for outside medical costs,” said Stacy Jenkins, corrections chief. “We rely on our vendor to negotiate those hospitalization costs with local providers. Typically they’re getting a cost of about a 130% Medicare rate. We’re asking for a local bill that will cap those rates at 110%, which is similar to the Department of Corrections.”
The request came three days after an deputy-involved shooting sent a suspect to the hospital. Jenkins explained that once law enforcement takes custody of a suspect at a hospital, that’s when the county takes on that person’s medical fees.
Hooper informed Pasco County commissioners that the local bill deadline for the Pasco County delegation had passed on Dec. 8. Commissioners then asked if the delegation could file a general bill addressing inmate medical costs statewide.
Ralph Lair, intergovernmental affairs officer for Pasco County, said the Florida Association of Counties could help the county identify sponsors in the House and Senate for a general bill.
911 fees
Pasco and Pinellas counties, as well as the Florida Association of Counties, supports raising state 911 fees to cover the cost of operating 911.
Currently, the state charges 40 cents per phone line.
Lair said Pasco County has incurred $24.5 million in 911 fee-eligible expenses, paying $7.9 million of that through its general fund.
“Counties must use local tax dollars out of our general funds to support 911 expenses, reducing funds available for other programs,” Lair said.
Commissioner Kathryn Starkey said Florida does not benefit from newcomers that maintain phone numbers from other states. Those newcomers aren’t paying into the 911 system.
Hooper said the newcomer aspect of this is an issue best handled by Congress but he said that if a bill statement goes to a Florida address, then those fees ought to benefit the state.
Construction costs for transportation
Pasco County seeks legislation that allows local tax revenues to increase with the cost of living, putting it in line with the state.
“There’s an escalation clause written into statute that allows for the local taxes plus the SCETS (State Comprehensive Enhanced Transportation System) taxes to increase over time based on the Consumer Price Index,” County Engineer Nick Uhren said. “But local taxes are fixed rate per gallon, so only the SCETS tax gets the benefit of the increase in the Consumer Price Index over time.”
Pasco County wants the local option fuel taxes that it has the ability to levy to be able to increase based on the Consumer Price Index.
“That allows us to maintain our purchasing power to construct the infrastructure necessary to produce a transportation network to support a thriving community,” Uhren said.
The county levies a 12 cent local option fuel tax, putting seven cents toward maintenance and five cents toward expansion.
Pedestrian safety
Pasco County is asking for the state to require drivers to stop at crossings for pedestrians. The current law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians.
“It could lower a lot of accidents with bicycles and pedestrians if just that tweak in the law were to occur,” Lair said.
This idea came out of the county’s bicycle pedestrian advisory committee.
Brian Michaels, who serves on that committee, told leaders the proposal ensures students using crosswalks without a school crossing guard remain safe.
Live Local Act
Pasco County seeks legislation that addresses its concerns about the Live Local Act, which is designed to increase affordable housing across the state.
One county official said the law has more of an effect in Pasco of providing a subsidy for market-rate apartments.
”We have a lot of commercial industrial property in Pasco County,” County Attorney David Goldstein said. “It’s still at risk of being converted to apartments basically. We have a strong emphasis on job creation. We value our commercial sites. We value our industrial sites. We want to make sure that we’re not continuing to just be a bedroom community to Hillsborough-Pinellas.”
Commissioner Seth Weightman said Pasco County is leading the state in the number of commercially zoned properties. He worries about the Live Local Act potentially diminishing the $65 million in investment into the Overpass Road interchange and other sites identified for jobs.
Hooper believes the Senate will discuss the Live Local Act soon.
“We have a great policy – we never have the time to do it right but we always have time to do it over,” Hooper said. “This may be the year that we get to do it over and fix our – we call it a glitch bill – to take that into consideration. I’m hopeful that that discussion will occur early in session if not in committee weeks before session.”
