HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The Hillsborough County judicial circuit court released a written order on Wednesday to remove the county's 1 percent transportation tax proposal from the ballot in November.
Voters in the county will still see the proposal on the ballot next month because officials filed a notice of appeal last week so that votes for and against the measure will still be recorded in the meantime, the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office said in an email.
According to the written order, the judicial court for Hillsborough County said the removal of the proposal came down to the measure not complying with the law.
"When Hillsborough County asks voters for more money, the law requires that it say what it means and mean what it says," the order said. "The law also requires that the County comply with the rules the Legislature has given about how the ballot question may be posed.
"On the ballot in Hillsborough County is a measure that does not mean what it says. It does not say what it means. It does not comply with the law, as it is required to do. Because it does not, the measure must be stricken from the ballot."
The 1 percent transportation tax referendum would've approved the raising of sales tax in Hillsborough County from 7.5 to 8.5 percent and allowed transportation officials to have the funds to make roads safer by adding bike lanes, lights and paving roads.
Something very similar was passed in 2018. Around half a billion tax dollars were collected. That referendum was ruled unconstitutional because voters decided how the money was spent.
However, supporters of the new transportation tax said that this time is different because county commissioners decided to put it on the November ballot.
On Oct. 10, All for Transportation Co-Founder Tyler Hudson expressed his disappointment with the court's decision and said it will bring more problems for people within the county.
"The only losers are the residents of Hillsborough County who have again had their opportunity to fix our broken transportation system delayed," he said in a statement. "We will continue to pay the high price of doing nothing and the call for action will only grow louder."