In the cover letter to the Administration Commission, which includes Gov. Rick Scott and the other members of the Florida Cabinet-Attorney General Pam Bondi, CFO Jeff Atwater and Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam, Pensacola City Attorney Lysia Bowling states that the distribution of local option gas taxes for the next 10 years and four months could not be “satisfactorily resolved” despite the city’s “extensive efforts.”
The City is appealing Escambia Board of County Commissioners Ordinance R2016-93 that set the city’s distribution at 6.99 percent. The City Attorney did not mention the inter-local agreement that was up for a commission vote today that would have given the city an additional 8.6 percent to help fund the proposed paving plan.
The County based its allocation formula on the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR). The city has submitted an affidavit, dated August 3, from a CPA in its Finance Department that states the City “has not been credited with additional $6,640,044, which the City has expended for transportation related capital expenditures and ‘roadway and right of way drainage’.” No supporting schedule was submitted with the affidavit.
Based on that Finance Department’s calculations, the City believes it should be credited with $9,446,454 over the past five years, not the $2.8 million in the audited financial reports, according to the city attorney.
The City is asking that the percentages in the county ordinance be set aside, and “direct that the City of Pensacola’s share of the Local Option Fuel Tax be recalculated to include its expenditures for roadway and right-of-way drainage pursuant to statutory requirements, and grant the City such other and further relief as may be deemed appropriate.”
If Administration Commission grants the appeal, the city’s allocation will be 16.22 percent – which is 0.54 percent more than the 6.99 (by ordinance) + 8.69 (by inter-local agreement) percentages offered by the county, roughly an additional $46K a year for the city.
Read City of Pensacola Appeal.
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A couple observations:
Apparently Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward has dropped his argument that his CFO presented to the BCC in July that the distribution should be done the same as the sale tax and based on population.
As noted earlier, the appeal has been submitted before the BCC approved the inter-local agreement and the Pensacola City Council had an opportunity to discuss the offer. Doing so, let the mayor present to the Florida Cabinet a case that omitted how the commissioners were trying to work with the city.
Mayor Hayward did not get council approval to make the appeal.