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Health & Fitness

LENS LIES AND The VOTERS

Your false statement regarding the offering of an air-conditioned restaurant on the over water pier required a prominent correction to meaningfully mitigate the harm it caused.

Posted Below is the latest in the St. Petersburg Times- Concerned Citizens ongoing battle about the truth related to the LENS.

Just the smell of all of this should be enough to make you VOTE YES to stop this thing. 

                                           William C. Ballard
                                           1255 Brightwaters Blvd.
                                           St. Petersburg, FL 33704
                                                 727-827-5021
                                            wballard12@verizon.net 

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July 26, 2013

 Paul C. Tash, Chairman and President
Neill Brown, Editor
Times Publishing Company
490 First Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701 

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            Re: “Facts, lies & the Lens,” Tampa Bay Times July 21, 2013; Myth 4 

Gentlemen: 

My letter requesting an effective apology and correction was hand delivered to your office in the morning of Monday, July 22nd.  That same day I received a campaign piece from a political committee supporting The Lens project with a “Know The Facts” format. The second purported fact in this piece was that every dime of the project is accounted for from taxes generated in the downtown area and that “not a penny comes from the rest of us in St. Pete.”  This statement was substantially the same as the false fact you had published which I had asked you to effectively correct – that the project would be paid only from taxes on downtown properties. 

Concerned Citizen’s mailing piece to the voters came out a day later.  Mail in voting had begun.  By the time voters had our piece urging them to vote and explaining the ballot format, these voters had been convincingly advised by the Tampa Bay Times that all critics of The Lens project such as Concerned Citizens were liars. You made your case with false statements, two of which my July 22nd letter addressed.  

Your false statement regarding the offering of an air-conditioned restaurant on the over water pier required a prominent correction to meaningfully mitigate the harm it caused.  Your corrective effort on July 23rd consisted only of a self-justifying clarification low on the page.  It occupied only 2.2 percent of the page.   You refused to take any corrective action on your second false statement, the one that would lead the majority of St. Petersburg’s voters, those who live outside the downtown district, to believe that only the people who live in the downtown would pay for this downtown project.  

You opponents of this city referendum issue know the importance of the issue of “Who Pays” the $50 million to build this project.  The Times Publishing Company has and continues to influence this municipal referendum with misinformation. 

My July 22nd letter told you where in the public records of Pinellas County your staffers could look to get the correct facts regarding Who Pays.  Apparently, the effort was not made.  To assist you and inform you I enclose copies of pages E6, E7 and E 27 of the St. Petersburg 2013 Adopted Fiscal Plan together with copies of two property tax notices, one each for St. Petersburg properties in and outside of the downtown district.  I also enclose a copy of my July 23 – 24 email exchange with the Pinellas County Tax Collector’s Deputy for Government Affairs & Staff Counsel, Amanda Coffey. 

These documents prove:

The city’s general fund is the fund which provides police, fire safety, streets, parks, administration and the other basic governmental services.

General fund revenue includes $79 million in property taxes, $62 million in utility, communications, business and other taxes, $10 million in service charges, and $70 million of revenue from other sources for a total of $211 million (rounded numbers).

There is an appropriation from the general fund in the category of “Transfers Out” of $4,663,442.

To provide the level of services called for in the fiscal plan, the plan must include $4,663,442 additional dollars of revenue to fund the appropriation to the Downtown Redevelopment District; the alternative is to reduce basic governmental services.

The Downtown Redevelopment District 2013 fiscal plan shows in its revenue summary “Transfer In – General Fund [source] - $4,663, 442

The only other significant source of revenue for the District is $3,482,834 of Intergovernmental Revenue [Pinellas County General Fund FY 2013 Budget, pages B-6, B-7, J-3, J-4 (General Government), and H-13 (Tax Increment Financing Program)].

The District does not directly receive revenue from taxes on property within it.

Taxes on property within the district are paid to the County Tax Collector for levies by the same taxing authorities and at the same millage rates as St. Petersburg properties not within the District.

A city resident who owns no property but is a householder enjoying basic utility and communication services is a contributor to the city’s general fund from which the $4,663,442 appropriation to the District is planned to be paid. 

Every city resident who owns property pays property taxes to the county general fund from which the county’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) transfer to the District fund is made.

TIF financing is not a source of funds or a “generator” of dollars; it is a measure of the amount of money that the participating taxing authorities must appropriate annually to a redevelopment district to ensure that funds are available to pay the holders of debt instruments held by lenders who have provided funds for redevelopment projects.  These funds need not come from property taxes.

Every city resident, excepting possibly a homeless person existing exclusively on charity, regardless of whether or not they own property in the city, will pay for The Lens project.

The Tampa Bay Times statement that “The $50 million project (from predemolition planning to construction) is being financed with a portion of property taxes collected only on downtown properties is false and misleading. 

So, the question of whether the Tampa Bay Times is a great newspaper remains an open question.  People who look to your newspaper for the truth are voting every day.  

Very truly yours,
William C. Ballard, President                                                                       Concerned Citizens of St. Petersburg, Inc. 

Tim Nickens, Editor of Editorials

Public distribution Posted with no editing

e-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net, or send me a Facebook Friend request.

Campaign Disclosures: Contributor to Kathleen Ford Campaign, Darden Rice Campaign, Concern Citizens of St. Petersburg

Have your say.  VOTE YES TO Stop The Lens.

Be sure to mark your mail in ballot, sign the back of the envelope and mail it right away.

 

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