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Tax For Dredging Issue Simmering

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By MARK HOLAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 31, 2007

SOUTH TAMPA - Supporters and opponents of taxing waterfront homeowners to pay for canal dredging are heading toward a showdown Dec. 18, when the city council decides whether to move forward with the plan.

The proposal has pitted neighbor against neighbor in some Davis Islands and West Shore communities, and the contentiousness was on display again at last week's council workshop on the issue.

Bel Mar Gardens resident Bob Bourgeois described the tax plan as a compromise between waterfront residents and the city, which he said has broken numerous promises to pay for canal cleanup.

'We're disillusioned, and we're mad,' Bourgeois said. 'We feel like we've been lied to and betrayed for years.'

About 600 waterfront property owners each could be asked to pay an $8,000 assessment to dredge 13 canals in West Shore and two on Davis Islands, plus an estimated $50 to $75 annual maintenance fee.

Councilwoman Mary Mulhern questioned support for the dredging plan, since an informal mail poll conducted by proponents during the summer didn't mention the possibility of the assessment or maintenance fees.

Opponents say a $1.3 million federal grant to the city for restoring estuaries such as Lake Kipling shouldn't be used to help defray the estimated $6 million cost of dredging canals for navigation.

City public works officials said the environmental work will be done regardless of whether the project is expanded to include dredging.

Councilman Joseph Caetano said he won't support the assessment.

'The city brings in enough money that if they had done things prudently, this dredging could be done already,' he said.

Caetano also called for city attorneys to review whether the Tampa Port Authority hasresponsibility for keeping the canals navigable, as suggested at the Oct. 25 workshop by local lawyer John Grandoff.

Reporter Mark Holan can be reached at (813) 835-2102 or mholan@tampatrib.com.

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