LUTZ, Fla. — Walking his Lutz neighborhood, Lloyd Perlman notices how the area’s growth is changing things.
“I’m going to be selfish for a minute, it’s almost impossible to get out of my neighborhood and make, especially the left turn coming out of the neighborhood. It's just it's very dangerous,” Perlman said.
His concern lies within the infrastructure, and the two-lane Van Dyke Road he lives off. A planned project aims to ease congestion and make the corridor safer for pedestrians, but it has not been funded.
“Talk to anyone who travels Van Dyke Road, they will let you know it's not a very easy road to travel," Perlman said.
A few years ago, Perlman voted in support (as did 57% of voters) of a 1% sales surtax in Hillsborough County. The money generated was to go towards transportation and road projects but after two years the tax was deemed unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court.
The roughly $570 million dollars collected from the tax has not been without use since, while for years lawmakers have debated what’s reasonable and feasible to do with it.
“I really want to see the money go for infrastructure ideas, which the county needs desperately,” Perlman added.
In his budget recommendations for the upcoming year, unveiled this week in Marco Island, Gov. Ron DeSantis requested the money be used on transportation projects in the county, a deviation from a plan to either come up with a way to refund the money or a House-pitched proposal to offer a sales tax holiday in Hillsborough.
The request comes after the legislature couldn’t reach an agreement on what to do during the session earlier this year.
“Our roads are not in the greatest shape, our sidewalks if you do a lot of walking need replacement, our bridges,” Perlman listed.
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That’s what Hillsborough County commissioners voted in favor of addressing with the money in requests to lawmakers last year. 100 business leaders in the Tampa Bay area just signed on to a letter urging the legislature to use the funds the same way, as they were originally intended.
Perlman is hoping this time those calls are answered when lawmakers reconvene next month.
“It's really important because we have got to keep our roads safe. We got to, for the safety of all of our people that live in this county,” Perlman added.
Under the governor’s proposal, the money would be given to the Department of Transportation which would oversee project funding.
"This is great news. Transportation remains one of our highest priorities in the city, and we look forward to working with the state to ensure our fair share of this funding to invest in our infrastructure," Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said about the governor's recommendation.