The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Michele Baker

Lowe’s wants to open with a big(ger) bang

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When Lowe’s opens its doors later this year, it wants to make sure drivers on State Road 54 just east of Land O’ Lakes Boulevard realize it’s there.

The hardware store, now under construction in 152,000 square feet of space across from Village Lakes Shopping Center, is asking Pasco County’s Development Review Committee to allow its wall sign on the building to be more than double the size the county currently allows.

Current code limits a wall sign — that is, one that is hung on the front or side of a business — to 150 square feet. However, Lowe’s wants to build a sign on the front of its store at a little more than 375 square feet. That would make the sign nearly 19 feet tall and 20 feet long, instead of the 15 feet long and 10 feet tall usually allowed under county ordinance.

In return, Lowe’s says it’s willing to build just one sign at the road, instead of the three the county allows. Overall, that would reduce the amount of signage Lowe’s has to 37 percent smaller than what the county allows, according to records submitted to the Development Review Committee.

County officials have recommended the Development Review Committee approve the change at its Sept. 25 meeting, set to begin at 1:30 p.m., at the West Pasco Government Center, 8731 Citizens Drive in New Port Richey. The county’s Development Review Committee is led by County Administrator Michele Baker, and includes assistant county administrators Heather Grimes, Cathy Pearson and Bruce Kennedy, as well as John Walsh from the Pasco Economic Development Council, and Chris Williams from Pasco County Schools.

Lowe’s is expected to bring 125 jobs for the project, that had been planned since the North Carolina company purchase the land between Winter Quarters Pasco RV Park and the Pasco County fire station in 2005 for $2.7 million. It had originally hoped to open the store by 2009, but Lowe’s abandoned those plans in 2011 before resurrecting them earlier this year.

New Wendy’s planned for Sunlake Boulevard

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Homes are popping up throughout the area surrounding the intersection of Sunlake Boulevard and State Road 54, and the business are coming with it.

The latest one planned is a new 3,500-square-foot Wendy’s fast food restaurant, complete with drive-thru service. It will be constructed on less than an acre of land currently owned by Sunlake Equity One LLC out of Miami, which has nearly 28 acres on the site.

Wendy’s International Inc. is in charge of the construction project, which will be considered by Pasco County’s Development Review Committee on Sept. 25. Wendy’s initially submitted plans to the county for the project last April, with final revisions received at the end of August, according to county records.

It would become the seventh Wendy’s location east of the Suncoast Parkway, the closest at 2328 Raden Drive in Land O’ Lakes, near the intersection of State Road 54 and Land O’ Lakes Boulevard. Other locations include 28031 State Road 54 in Wesley Chapel, 19430 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., in New Tampa, 32715 Eiland Blvd., in Zephyrhills, 5658 Gall Blvd., in Zephyrhills, and 13135 U.S. 301 in Dade City.

The county’s Development Review Committee is led by County Administrator Michele Baker, and includes assistant county administrators Heather Grimes, Cathy Pearson and Bruce Kennedy, as well as John Walsh from the Pasco Economic Development Council, and Chris Williams from Pasco County Schools.

The meeting is set for Sept. 25 at 1:30 p.m., at the West Pasco Government Center, 8731 Citizens Drive in New Port Richey.

Outlet mall not ready to spring up quite yet

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Site work has begun on the Cypress Creek Town Center site near the intersection of State Road 56 and Wesley Chapel Boulevard. It’s just not for the proposed outlet mall in that area.

Instead, dirt has begun to move across the street from the planned 482,000-square-foot mall, where some outparcel retail stores will eventually be built, said Dawn Sutton with Pasco County’s Planning and Development department.

Some activity on a site where some individual retail stores may be located in the future had some residents thinking the proposed outlet mall work was finally beginning. However, that project — across State Road 56 near Wesley Chapel Boulevard — is wrapping up site plan approvals now. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
Some activity on a site where some individual retail stores may be located in the future had some residents thinking the proposed outlet mall work was finally beginning. However, that project — across State Road 56 near Wesley Chapel Boulevard — is wrapping up site plan approvals now.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

“There are no site plans for that part of the property just yet,” Sutton said. “Right now, it looks like they are just trying to make it site-ready. It’s not a pad, but more of a central system to get ready for some eventual work there.”

The outlet mall itself, tentatively called Cypress Creek Town Center Premium Outlets Mall, is still going through site plan review, Sutton said. One of the developers involved with Simon Property Group submitted paperwork to the county Sept. 4, all part of the standard back-and-forth between a developer and the county.

If both sides can square away any lingering issues, Simon could start moving its own dirt on the site in 30 days. That means actual construction, once building permits are issued, could get underway before the end of the year.

The mall will almost certainly not hit its originally announced completion date of the end of 2014. In fact, whether the outlet mall will hit the Summer 2015 timeframe county administrator Michele Baker suggested earlier this year is still yet to be seen. Simon did not return an email last week seeking comment.

The entire process for Simon is a little déjà vu, Sutton said.

“The 50 acres that is being planned for the mall sits differently than it did before,” she said. “They have a different layout, and the location is adjusted.”

Simon had originally planned a 1.2 million-square-foot project with 600,000 square feet of retail, and 120,000 square feet of office by 2011. Expanded plans included 350 hotel rooms, 230 apartments, and a 2,582-seat movie theater.

Yet, the east indigo snake and the economy got in the way. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers delayed final environmental approval for years, with one herpetologist telling officials that the land is necessary to help the snake avoid major roadways.

The Army Corps cleared the way for the mall last November.

“We are very excited to be moving forward on this project, and are commencing meetings with the county to determine approvals and a schedule,” Danielle DeVita, senior vice president for development and acquisition at Simon, said in a statement last year.

Simon still needs to finalize its site layout, which would require approval by Pasco County commissioners. However, Sutton doesn’t anticipate their being any additional controversy with the site.

Some of the land work on the mall site had already been done back in 2007, said Carol Clarke, assistant planning and development administrator for the county.

“There was earth working done there, which was part of what they were initially going to do,” Clarke said. “They have this new plan, but it looks like they are endeavoring to use as much of the existing infrastructure there as they can.”

Simon is joined on the project by JG Cypress Creek LLC and Tampa Premium Outlets LLC, and is expected to be built in seven phases, according to plans submitted last April. The overall project will consist of nine buildings, and nearly 2,400 parking spaces. The complete project is expected to offer 1.1 million square feet of commercial space.

Published September 10, 2014

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Chili’s coming to former Johnny Carino’s site

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More chain restaurant options are coming to Wesley Chapel, not far from a new Walmart, where Chili’s Grill & Bar is expected to build a 6,090-square-foot location.

Brinker Florida Inc. is looking to build the new Chili’s at 28444 State Road 54 in Wesley Chapel, where the Johnny Carino’s restaurant was once located. Brinker is set to have its small commercial development plan approved by the Pasco County Development Review Committee on Sept. 11.

The 1.7 acres of land has been owned by CRC 204 LLC since 2007, a company connected to local Applebee’s franchise owner Franklin Carson of Tampa.

Once completed, this would become the fourth Chili’s location in the area. It would join restaurants at 22629 State Road 54 in Land O’ Lakes, 16420 State Road 54 in Odessa, and 17643 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., in New Tampa.

Brinker International has been the owner of the Chili’s chain since 1983, and has more than 1,500 locations worldwide.

Also up for review by the Development Review Committee is a proposed Sherwin-Williams building materials store on the corner of Wesley Chapel Boulevard and Old Pasco Road. Plans there are for a 4,550-square-foot paint store on 5.6 acres of land.

That land is currently owned by OP 54 LLC of Tampa, a company connected with Mitchell Rice, the chief executive of RMC Real Estate Services in Tampa.

This would be the third Sherwin-Williams location in the area, joining the store at 17331 Dona Michelle Drive in New Tampa, and 37136 Eiland Blvd., in Zephyrhills. The chain, known for its paint, has more than 4,300 locations worldwide.

The county’s Development Review Committee is set to meet at the Historic Pasco County Courthouse on Sept. 11 at 1:30 p.m. The committee is led by Pasco County administrator Michele Baker.

Pasco now welcoming developers with much higher fees

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With a single unanimous vote, the Pasco County Commission has made it much more expensive to develop land in the county, raising some government services fees as much as 400 percent.

But surprisingly, developers are not up in arms. In fact, one of the major builders associations actually encouraged county officials to raise rates — as long as they vastly improve service as well.

New development fees passed by the Pasco County Commission could affect a number of projects in the near future, but will have little impact on some building already underway, like the new Pep Boys location planned on State Road 54 near Catfish Lake Lane. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
New development fees passed by the Pasco County Commission could affect a number of projects in the near future, but will have little impact on some building already underway, like the new Pep Boys location planned on State Road 54 near Catfish Lake Lane.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

“The county has agreed with our developers that they don’t like the level of service they’re providing,” said Jennifer Doerfel, executive vice president of the Tampa Bay Builders Association. “When they started drilling down into it, they looked at why are we doing this, and why are we doing that. And it’s all because there is a severe lack of funding.”

Before last week, Pasco was one of the cheapest counties in Florida to develop land and build, at least when it came to government fees. For instance, a preliminary development plan for a non-residential project that once cost $50 an acre would now cost $5,000, plus $150 an acre. That means the cost to review a preliminary development plan of a 100-acre project will go from $5,000 to $20,000.

“We have had an increase in development activity, but we’ve had fees that have not been comparable to what other communities charge,” said Carol Clarke, assistant planning and development administrator for the county. “As we looked at all of this, we realized that if we were going to get our staff the technology and resources they would need to do all the things we need them to do, we would have to raise fees.”

The county’s development department is constantly set on overdrive, constantly working overtime and using technology that is easily 20 years old, Clarke said.

“We are on a mainframe,” she said. “Do you know anyone who is still working on a mainframe?”

Because of that, the county would take triple the time neighboring counties would to help get development projects moving. And that’s something county commissioner Kathryn Starkey said during a meeting Aug. 19 that could cost developers a fortune.

“When the permits are held up … one of the developers said $64,000 a day is what it’s costing them,” she said. “And one of them had a two-month delay, so add that up. They are willing to pay $15,000” to prevent having those kind of review delays.

The additional fees will allow the county to immediately hire eight new people for development review, which should speed up some of the permit requests that slowed from lack of manpower. Money also will become available to fund the technological upgrades needed to reduce paperwork and time, and allow developers to easily track progress of their requests online.

It also will eliminate the need to use more than $600,000 each year from property tax coffers currently being used to subsidize the county’s development review department.

“What we looked at was how much was the general property taxpayer underwriting the general review process, and was that appropriate,” county administrator Michele Baker said. “We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They cannot process any faster, and they can’t report any better. So we need a combination of staff and technology.

“The unfortunate circumstance is that we need resources in order to do that, and this is how we’re proposing to help pay for those resources,” she said.

The new fees will bring Pasco more in line with many of its neighboring counties, Clarke said. For instance, a development agreement in Pasco will now cost $10,000. Hillsborough County developers can pay anywhere between $2,500 and $9,800, while in Manatee County, the cost is $15,000, plus advertising. Pinellas County, which is completely built out, charges $1,500.

A preliminary site plan for 100,000 square feet of space on 50 acres will cost $12,500 — higher than both Hillsborough ($3,525) and Pinellas ($7,794), but far cheaper than the $30,000 Manatee charges.

However, not all developers are on board. Craig Weber, a vice president at Crown Community Development involved in such communities as Seven Oaks and WaterGrass, told commissioners during a recent meeting that rates are guaranteed to go up, but service is not guaranteed to improve.

“Here we are with a 400 percent increase,” Weber said. “We are still trying to scratch our way out of a recession and now we’re being hit with this.

“Maybe the fee increase is justified, but there needs to be a corresponding improvement in services and review times in order for it to be competitive.”

The TBBA agrees, and sent a memo to the county late last month to ensure officials are looking to improve response time, so that costly delays in development can be avoided. That means getting back initial comments from an application within 20 days instead of the current 45 days. It also means getting safety inspections done within 24 hours of being requested — and staying focused on only safety.

“I can cite several instances where inspectors are spending an unusual amount of time on an inspection, and comments of concern are focused on items that are not related to site safety,” Doerfel said in the memo. That has required what she has called an “excessive” level of detail.

Commissioner Jack Mariano voted with the rest of the commission to accept the new fees, but said he was a little uneasy about what this might lead to.

“My biggest fear of moving forward with this is that there are more objections out there,” he said. “What I don’t want to do is put us in an uncompetitive situation. I just don’t want to put us in a situation where we get that reputation that we are open for business, and now we have the highest fees.”

See how much Pasco County’s development fees have gone up. Visit tinyurl.com/PascoBuildFees.

Published August 27, 2014

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Gates might be a problem at new Seven Oaks subdivision

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A new townhouse community planned for Wesley Chapel’s Seven Oaks subdivision is struggling to keep the neighborhood gated.

Pasco County officials have recommended denying a request by The Ryland Group to allow for two gated access points to a planned 96-unit community near the intersection of Stockton Drive and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. The problem, they say, is that there isn’t enough room to accommodate a line of cars.

County ordinance requires there be at least 75 feet of space from a sidewalk to a community’s gated entrance, enough to fit three cars. However, because of the unusual layout design of the property where Seven Oaks Ryland Townhomes is planned, it can only provide enough space to accommodate two cars. The rule, officials said, ensures there is enough room for a small line of cars, without blocking sidewalks and roads.

“Significant queues could develop behind visitors waiting to be ‘buzzed in,'” county development review manager Amanda Boone wrote in a memo to the Development Review Committee, which is scheduled to hear the request Aug. 21 in New Port Richey. “Furthermore, if visitors are unable to reach the resident they are visiting, they may be unable to move from the service position at the gate due to vehicle queuing behind them.”

The plan would have provided for two entrances into the community, one from Stockton Drive, the other from Eagleston Boulevard. Only the entrance at Stockton would provide visitor access, but even a resident-only entrance at Eagleston created concern from county officials. That’s because it would only have enough room to hold one vehicle, and any additional vehicles would block pedestrian pathways.

Developers will have a chance to plead their case in front of the Development Review Committee, which will meet in the county commission chambers at 8731 Citizens Drive in New Port Richey on Aug. 21, beginning at 1:30 p.m. The committee is led by county administrator Michele Baker, and includes assistant county administrators Heather Grimes, Cathy Pearson and Bruce Kennedy, as well as John Walsh from the Pasco Economic Development Council and Chris Williams from Pasco County Schools.

Commissioners might tackle redevelopment without PEDC

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The Pasco Economic Development Council might have plans on how the county can spend new revenue from the Penny for Pasco tax. But the group itself might have to take a back seat in how that money is used.

Ted Schrader
Ted Schrader

“We’ve been entrusted by the public to spend $5 million a year over the next 10 years, and the Pasco Economic Development Council has asked to participate in that spend with us,” county administrator Michele Baker told Pasco County commissioners at a recent meeting. “Instead of being buried in planning and development, it needs to be in a place where it is clearly transparent. And nothing against PEDC, but I’m not comfortable with handing over that money. They are not subject to the same oversight as we are.”

The Pasco EDC, a private organization that works to market the county to businesses and industry, had proposed to the commission last April that it borrow against the Penny for Pasco tax. They could then use the funds for projects like assembling land, constructing offices and warehouses on speculation, and even possibly considering a convention center, all to help attract outside business to the county.

“We’d rather get some of that revenue upfront now, so that we can get more of an impact over the 10-year period, rather than wait,” Pasco EDC president and chief executive John Hagen told commissioners at the time. “We need jobs, and we need economic development now.”

Baker did agree with one of the primary recommendations Hagen made: the county needs to act sooner rather than later. Even with nearly $5 million sitting in the bank right now from projects yet to get underway like from Raymond James Financial and T. Rowe Price, those funds are for small players, Baker said, and not enough for something “big and impactful.”

For the county to take command, however, commissioners need to beef up the development staff, Commissioner Kathryn Starkey said. Melanie Kendrick has been a one-woman show when it has come to such projects in the past, but it’s too much for just a single person to handle.

“To me, this is one of the most important things we can do,” Starkey said. “This is how we lift our county up and become that premier county and be attractive to those kind of companies that we want to bring here.”

Money to add people to the payroll is going to have to come from somewhere, however, and commissioners may have to look at ways to accomplish it, either by raising development fees — which are by far some of the lowest in the state — or possibly even by raising taxes.

If property owners paid the same amount of taxes they did last year, the county would increase its overall revenue by $3.4 million — fueled primarily by new construction. If Pasco decided to keep the same millage as last year, at 7.3441 mills, taxes for typical homeowners could go up by as much as $12.40 each year. But it would generate an additional $5.87 million in revenue, with new construction once again contributing, as well as rising property values.

Even those dollars, however, might not be enough to pay for everything commissioners want to budget — like a 3 percent pay increase for county employees, across the board.

“We would like to have an increase in salary,” Commissioner Ted Schrader said. “But that is going to eat up the $5.8 million to get that done, so we know where we’re starting.”

With road improvements still needed, there’s a strong possibility that part of those funds will come from an additional increase in property taxes, something Schrader has said he opposes. If that were to happen, it would generate approximately $5 million in additional revenue, but cost typical homeowners an additional $24 in property taxes each year.

Commissioners have yet to be presented with next year’s budget, but could start seeing early drafts as soon as next month.

Published June 25, 2014

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New stalemate could kill gas tax increase yet again

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Getting new county road projects underway, as well as maintaining the ones already built, is likely going to require an additional $8 million this coming year. But a new battle on exactly how to raise that money has put two Pasco County commissioners on opposite sides of the debate.

Henry Wilson is continuing a controversial stance he took last year, saying he won’t support raising the local gas tax, and instead wants to explore other revenue sources including an increase in property taxes.

Ted Schrader, however, has no interest in raising property taxes, and says a 5-cent increase in gas taxes will shift the cost of maintaining the roads to the people who are using them, and in most cases wouldn’t even be passed on to the consumer anyway.

It’s a battle where Wilson has an early advantage, not because of support from other commissioners, but from a caveat that any gas tax increase requires the approval of four of the five commissioners, while a property tax increase of this size would only require a yes vote from three.

“People buy gas periodically, but when they get their (property) tax bill, they remember that,” Schrader said during a recent meeting at the Historic Dade City Courthouse, interrupted several times from quick power blackouts caused by a thunderstorm outside. “When you start incrementally adding on all these different assessments, they are going to remember that.”

Wilson says the county needs to increase revenue by $8 million, but “not via the gas tax.”

The debate erupted at the meeting after County Administrator Michele Baker tried to lock down how much commissioners were planning to spend on roads this year. The additional amount of revenue needed ranged from $5 million to $8 million, with the lower number possibly forcing some future road building projects to be delayed or cancelled altogether.

Earlier in the meeting, county budget manager Dan Risola told commissioners that even if the gas tax increase was passed on to consumers, it would equate to $7.50 annually for every penny. A 5-cent increase would mean an additional $37.50 annually, or $1.56 more per fill-up on a typical car that’s fueled up twice monthly.

The recommendation to use the full 5 cents also came from a group of community leaders led by Heidt Design president Patrick Gassaway.

“We like user fees for things like transportation,” he said. “It puts the burden where it should be.

“To tell elected officials that their best route is to increase taxes is, of course, something we recognize as a difficult thing for you to do. It is a lot like saving for college, but it is a great investment, and we all benefit from it.”

Using all 5 cents available to the county in gas taxes could have other positive effects as well, Gassaway said. If the county looks to get state or federal funding for projects, officials can show they’ve done everything they can locally to raise money by using the tools available to them.

Gas stations are not adept to raising prices just because of increases in taxes because they are focused on selling a specific number of gallons, Baker said.

“It would translate to the folks that were buying beer and Slurpees and cigarettes,” she said. “It’s inside the convenience store where they truly make the profits.”

Also not fully convinced about looking at a full gas tax was Commissioner Jack Mariano, but his position has shifted a bit from last year when he voted against any gas tax increase.

“It is a very complex subject,” he said. “Developers are going to get mad at us for not using the gas tax, and then you look at the regular people who is going to pay the tax.”

Mariano, like fellow commissioners Pat Mulieri and Kathryn Starkey, are willing to explore a mix of gas and property tax increases to hit the $8 million mark, although Mulieri has indicated she would go a full 5 cents in gas tax if needed.

Schrader, however, would have to convince both Mariano and Starkey to raise the gas tax to 5 cents to get the four votes needed. But Mariano has hinted in the past that he likely wouldn’t go higher than a 2-cent increase at the pump.

If Schrader refuses to vote in favor of any gas tax increase below 5 cents, commissioners would not have enough votes to raise the gas tax at all. That would mean looking almost exclusively at a property tax increase.

“We have to stop fighting one another,” Mulieri said. “This has been a good board, but it deteriorated two weeks ago. I see that wind blowing, and nobody is going to change their mind right now.”

Published June 18, 2014

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Local projects spared from Scott’s veto pen

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Gov. Rick Scott left nearly $69 million of this year’s state budget on the cutting room floor, but various projects throughout Pasco and Hillsborough counties were given a reprieve.

In signing the budget Monday, Scott and the state Legislature has earmarked a little more than $234 million for local projects, primarily road construction projects that affect the Veterans Expressway, State Road 54 and Interstate 75. However, it also puts in place $37.8 million for Pasco-Hernando State College, including $10 million needed for a performing arts center.

“This budget includes historic funding levels for K-12, state colleges and universities in Florida,” Scott said in a letter to Secretary of State Ken Detzner. ” We have remained focused on equipping Florida’s education system with the resources necessary to provide every student a world-class education.”

The biggest allocation to this region is $60.9 million planned for the widening of Veterans Expressway between Sugarwood Mainline Plaza to Van Dyke Road. It’s part of an overall widening and reconstruction project of the Veterans, which includes eliminating cash tolls along the route that connects the Tampa Bay region with counties to the north like Pasco, Hernando and Citrus.

The area’s other sizable road project is State Road 54 from Curley to Morris Bridge roads, which will cost just under $27 million. That joins a separate State Road 54 project from east of the Suncoast Parkway to Land O’ Lakes Boulevard that will come in just shy of $18 million.

Pasco County administrator Michele Baker said the 2014 Legislative session was a good one for the county.

“Pasco County sis a growing county, and we will continue to have additional needs as we grow and provide valuable services to our residents in the coming years,” she said, in a release. “We still have needs for additional roads and improvements to existing roads, and cultural needs so our citizens can enhance the quality of life as more people are expected to move here in the coming years.”

Local projects earning funding in this year’s budget include:

• Veterans Expressway widening project between Sugarwood Mainline Plaza to Van Dyke Road — $60.9 million
• Workforce Development — $30.5 million
• Pasco-Hernando State College — $27.8 million
• State Road 54 construction project from Curley Road to Morris Bridge Road — $26.8 million
• State Road 54 construction project from east of Suncoast Parkway to west of U.S. 41 — $17.9 million
• U.S. 301 construction project from State Road 39 to south of County Road 54 — $16.6 million
• Pasco-Hernando State College performing arts education center — $10 million
• Interstate 75 construction project north of State Road 54 to north of State Road 52 — $8 million
• State Road 56 resurfacing project west of Interstate 75 to Bruce B. Downs Boulevard — $5.6 million
• Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Surface Transportation Program — $5 million
• Bruce B. Downs Boulevard construction project from Pebble Creek Drive to County Line Road — $4.6 million
• Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Public Transit Block Grant Program — $4.3 million
• U.S. 301 resurfacing project from north of Geiger Road to north of Kossik Road — $3.1 million
• State Road 52 construction project from Bellamy Brothers Boulevard to East of Old Pasco Road — $2.7 million
• Water projects — $2.7 million
• State Road 52 resurfacing project east of Smith Road to west of Center Avenue — $2.4 million
• State Road 54 resurfacing project east of Lake Crystal Boulevard to West of Flint Street — $2.1 million
• State Road 52 resurfacing project from east of U.S. 41 to west of Bellamy Brothers Boulevard — $1.2 million
• County Road 54 construction project from U.S. 301 to Wire Road — $1 million
• Metropolitan Ministries Pasco Housing Initiative — $1 million

Other funding includes $50,000 for Lighthouse for the Blind, $250,000 for Memory Mobile, $874,500 for Nurse-Family Partnerships, $60 million for Florida NCI Cancer Centers, $2.8 million for community-based care, $5 million for Family Intensive Treatment teams, $300,000 for substance abuse, $150,000 for veterans crisis intervention, and $250,000 for Ready4Work Reentry Program.

The performing arts center at PHSC was one of nearly $120 million in budget “turkeys” recently identified by Florida TaxWatch. It was the only Pasco County project to make the list.

-Updated 6/3/14 to include statement from Pasco County administrator Michele Baker.

Sheriff Nocco seeks 6.5% budget increase

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The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office is reducing its publicly paid staff by nearly 90 people, but Sheriff Chris Nocco says he’ll still need at least $6 million more than he got last year.

Nocco’s total budget request for 2014-15 is $96.4 million, up nearly 6.5 percent from last year’s approved budget, according to a release. Most of that increase comes from giving pay raises to long-term deputies and employees who right now are watching new hires come in at the same salary, or sometimes more, than what they are making.

The 86 positions affecting the budget are not being eliminated, but instead many have been privatized, spokesman Kevin Doll said.

Nocco wants to raise those salaries by 1 percent for every year each employee has worked, capping it at 5 percent. In order for that to happen, however, he would need to raise his budget request to the Pasco County Commission by $2.6 million.

The move, however, is necessary, to help keep veteran employees on the staff, and not leave for higher-paying jobs with other agencies, Nocco said.

Nocco also wants to get rid of “flexing,” described as sending employees home instead of paying overtime because the sheriff’s office doesn’t have enough funds to pay overtime. Doing that reduces the number of deputies patrolling the streets and investigating crime, the sheriff said. To do it, however, he would need an additional $333,000 budgeted for overtime.

The budget would have to be approved by the Pasco County Commission, who received the budget Friday. County administrator Michele Baker said in a release that her staff would “look carefully” at what the sheriff is asking for.

“We have had good discussions leading up to the sheriff’s budget submission today,” Baker said. “I am hopeful that the discussions moving forward this summer will be just as positive.”

Nocco did note that some other increases were out of his control. Retirement funding, for example, jumped $345,500 as mandated by the Florida Legislature. Another $300,000 would go toward the sheriff’s helicopter for maintenance and to purchase a $94,000 night-vision infrared camera.

The sheriff also wants to hire three additional school resource officers to address population increase in schools.

“We are in position for tremendous growth in Pasco,” Nocco said, in a release. “The time to begin planning and addressing public safety is now.”