The daily newspaper is reporting that the bond issue for the public portion of the Community Maritime Park may have to go to a countywide referendum. I’ve spoken with several bond attorneys in Pensacola and Tallahassee.
The Florida Supreme Court ruling has hurt the bond status of counties, municipalities and school districts across the state. Standard & Poor’s warned investors on Tuesday that a Florida school-district financing program faced “negative implications” because of last week’s Florida Supreme Court ruling. The warning could lead to higher interest rates for school districts when they sell bonds, and that could increase school-construction costs. Read Court ruling could derail new schools
The biggest vote the Escambia Board of County Commissioners took yesterday wasn’t on Touart’s severance package but on challenging the Supreme Court ruling. Only a party to the original suit can do so. It’s unusual for the court to grant a hearing on a unanimous decision – but it’s also unusual for the court to overturn such a solid prior Supreme Court precedent like they did with this ruling.
Meanwhile, I see two alternatives. One is hold the county wide referendum as soon as possible. While the Byron Keeslers, Luke McCoys and Greg Strands care little for economic development, jobs or revitalizing downtown Pensacola, it’s unknown how the rest of the county voters truly feels about the park. Even though Pensacola property owners pay a disportionate percentage of the county millage and pay for county services that its citizens never, never use, people in the unincorporated areas traditionally care very little for the downtown area.
The plus on the vote is that the CMPA board has lived up to all the commitments made during the first referendum. We have world class developers interested in the project, and the Contractor Academy is set to train a new generation of workers and contractors. There is not been a time since the Great Depression that his community needed an economic development project more than now.
Another alternative is to find a different way to finance the project. The City could pledge other revenue towards the park and then let the CRA money flow into the General Fund and indirectly pay the bonds. This is a slight-of-hand option, but the Florida Supreme Court didn’t dissolve CRA districts. This would keep the project moving ahead. The weakness here is Save Our City could reorganize and do another petition drive to reverse any such vote by the Council – however the referendum would stay inside the City.
This is my 5:30-6:00 am analysis.