Just got off the phone with State Sen. Don Gaetz. He told me that Conforming Appropriations Bill that is about to be announced by the Florida House and Senate will have a provision that will budget funds to allow the regional TPO to meet work with the Department of Transportation to determine if Commissioner Gene Valentino’s idea of county’s pooling their gas taxes to create an advance funding mechanism for road and bridge construction will work.
“They will determine if the plan is financially feasible, practical and constitutional,” Gaetz says.
The original Senate bill on this issue didn’t pass. However, Gaetz was successful in resurrecting the idea during the budget negotiation process.
“We had to do some horse-trading, but it was over things we would have done anyway,” Gaetz admits.