TaxWatch Calls Funds For Black Museums, Conservation Lands, Youth Sports Center 'Turkeys'

TARPON SPRINGS, FL — Projects that are near and dear to the hearts of Pinellas County residents have been labeled "budget turkeys" by a research group that keeps an eye out on state budget appropriations.

In its annual report, Florida TaxWatch, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute, said there are 166 appropriations that qualify as "budget turkeys" in this year's state budget.

Commonly known as "pork," TaxWatch said these are generally appropriations for local projects that were added to the state budget without being "fully scrutinized and subjected to the budget process" and sometimes tacked on to the budget late in the process as favors to legislators.

The Legislature approved a $112.1 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 during the 2022 legislative session, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has not yet approved it.

Florida TaxWatch said the purpose of its "budget turkeys" report is to help DeSantis determine what items to veto. TaxWatch identified $281 million in what it calls "budget turkeys" in the 2022-23 budget.

Last year, DeSantis slashed $1.5 billion of items from the $100 billion budget.

Tony Carvajal, executive vice president for TaxWatch, said the turkeys in this year's budget simply didn't meet the nonprofit's standard for projects that withstood a "transparent and accountable" budget process.

He added, however, that this year's budget had significantly fewer turkeys than last year's budget.

After scrutinizing the budget, TaxWatch identified 166 appropriation items totaling $281 million it says qualify as budget turkeys. Last year, TaxWatch found 243 turkeys totaling $368.4 million.

“Florida government is awash with money,” said George LeMieux, a former U.S. senator, now chairman of the TaxWatch board. “Given the sheer magnitude of the funds at the Legislature’s disposal, those of us at Florida’s TaxWatch normally thought that there would be a lot of turkeys this year. But the Legislature, frankly, surprised us. For us budget turkey hunters, it was a lean year.”

Nevertheless, TaxWatch said it has concerns about using state dollars for local projects.

“While many of these (local) projects are worthwhile, it is harder to justify the use of state dollars for some of them," the report said.

Kurt Wenner, senior vice president of TaxWatch, said some projects should be “local responsibilities" or should be funded with grant money.

“So, the question is, should the Legislature be paying for these local things?” Wenner asked.
“Now, there is certainly an argument to be made for some of the fiscally restrained counties that don’t have the property tax placed to maybe pay for some of this stuff. But we would just like to see a process created to choose and spend a limited amount of money in the best way possible.”

Included in this year's budget are several budget items proposed by Pinellas County residents intended to preserve environmentally sensitive lands and provide opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

Among them is a $3 million budget item sponsored by state Rep. Chris Latvala, R-Clearwater, to allow Pinellas County to purchase the West Klosterman Preserve, a parcel of land along the Anclote River in Tarpon Springs that local environmentalists say contains more than 60 threatened or endangered plant and animal species.

Residents have spent years staving off development, including a Walmart and an apartment complex, and trying to raise the $3.2 million to purchase the 14-acre property that lies just south of the 76-acre Mariner’s Point Management Area, a conservation area already owned by Pinellas County.

If approved by DeSantis, that $3 million appropriation would allow the nonprofit West Klosterman Preservation Group to finally fully fund the purchase of the property.

The proposed budget also includes two other so-called turkeys that youth advocates say are desperately needed in disadvantaged areas in Pinellas County.

One is $15 million for the Toytown Landfill environmental remediation for a youth sports complex and the other is $13.5 million for a Pinellas Park youth sports complex to provide recreational opportunities for at-risk and economically disadvantaged youth.

Toytown is a 240-acre historic former landfill owned by the county. Located near Interstate 275 and Roosevelt Boulevard, the county wants to clean up the landfill site and vent any methane gas produced by 25 years of decaying garbage dumped there so the site can be developed for a youth sports complex.

Additionally, Pinellas Park is asking for $13.5 million to help design and construct a $25 million youth sports complex with football fields and other amenities to serve disadvantaged youth in the community.

Proposed by the Pinellas Park City Council, the park would provide recreational facilities for the nearby disadvantaged community of Lealman, which has long complained about the lack of recreational facilities for youth in the community.

The multi-faceted youth sports complex would be located just off of U.S. 19 and Interstate 275, providing direct access to recreational amenities for 155,000 youth in Pinellas County.

TaxWatch also questioned a $2 million appropriation for the Pinellas Science Center, an education center focused on science and math (STEAM) programs, as well as $500,000 for the Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum.

The $2 million would be used to renovate the existing Pinellas County Science Center, which was established in 1959 and served 22,000 children before it closed in 2014.

The budget also includes $500,000 to expand the county's only Black heritage museum, located in St. Petersburg.

Since opening its doors in 2006, the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum has become St. Petersburg’s primary destination for African American art, history and culture. The facility has become so popular, the museum has outgrown the 4,000-square-foot space in the former community center at Jordan Park, the site of one of the nation’s first African American developed public housing communities.

The city of St. Petersburg has donated 5.5 acres to construct a new, 30,000-square-foot museum that would include space for expanded and new exhibits, room for lectures and a library/justice center to allow research on African American history and culture and preserve the community's African American culture and roots.

It would also allow the museum to offer after-hours and summer camps for kids.

State Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, originally requested an appropriation of $5 million for the museum, estimated to cost $27 million.

TaxWatch also singled out several Pasco County projects including $2.5 million for the 75-year-old Pasco County Fairgrounds and $35 million for a sports training and youth tournament complex.

The new youth sports complex, proposed by Florida Sen. Danny Burgess, would be built on State Road 54 between Starkey Ranch and Austria. Pasco County's tourism board, Florida Sports Coast, hopes the complex can also be used as a new spring training home for the Tampa Bay Rays.

“There will be youth sports and youth tournaments that will get national if not international attention and attraction there, and the economic impact from that is going to be profound,” said Burgess.

TaxWatch also identified $500,000 for a Hillsborough County African-American Arts and Cultural Center as a turkey.

Rouson also sponsored this budget item, backed by the Hillsborough County Commission.

The $30 million center would be located on the site of the West Tampa Community Resource Center, 2103 N. Rome Ave.

The 30,000- to 50,000-square-foot facility would include space for art exhibits, indoor and outdoor entertainment space, a black-box theater, labs, classrooms, an amphitheater, a cafe, a store and a playground.

Click here to see the full report.