Monday, February 25, 2013
The extension for filing the 2013 Tangible Personal Property Tax Return nears. The application to do so in Hillsborough County is online.
Requests for a 30-day extension to file the 2013 Tangible Personal Property Tax Return can be filed online with the office of the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser. Online submissions are due no later than 5 p.m. April 1. Once approved, online verfication will be given. ______________ What To Know About The 2013 Tangible Personal Property Tax Extension ______________
Sunday, February 24, 2013
The Hillsborough County Commission wants to hear from residents about a plan to bolster the local economy. The deadline to comment is Thursday, Feb. 28.
Hillsborough County’s Economic Prosperity Stakeholder Committee has issued its report on what local government should do to improve the area’s financial climate. Now, the county's commissioners want to hear from you about the effects of the recommendations on life in Bloomingdale and Riverview and beyond. The deadline to provide feedback on the committee's 30 recommendations is Feb. 28. Among the topics raised: Do you think the county needs to streamline regulations? Should it create a comprehensive economic development strategy? Should the county provide more incentives for job-creating businesses to move here? Provide your feedback in three ways: The committee was created last year to provide commissioners with insights on what local …
Friday, February 22, 2013
The wildly popular Brandon Skate Park in Riverview seeks a part-time employee to work with visitors to the Hillsborough County facility at 5720 Providence Road.
Hillsborough County seeks "someone responsible and professional, with a true passion for skateboarding" to work part-time at the Brandon Skate Park in Riverview, at 5720 Providence Road. There, Jeff Miller, the park's newest director, said more than 1,700 people have registered to skate in the park designed and constructed by Team Pain. "We're looking for a person who loves skating," Miller said in a phone interview Feb. 21. "If you need a job, this one is open." Also open is a part-time job at the skate park in Apollo Beach. Both parks are owned and operated by the Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department. On the job, a passion for skating wouldn't hurt, Miller said. "They can teach different tricks and during …
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Hillsborough County Commissioners approved a measure that paves the way for a Bass Pro Shops in Brandon. Should tax dollars be used to support a private development project? That's the issue raised in passionate, and sometimes heated, debate.
The Hillsborough County Commissioners on Feb. 20 voted 6-1 to spend $6.25 million to secure road improvements necessary to bring Bass Pro Shops to Brandon, but that doesn't end the debate over the issue of using tax dollars to support a big-business development. The issue drew a heated and passionate debate, both at the meeting and in the months leading up to the vote, as articulated in the number of people who attended meetings to voice their concerns. Sporting "Say No to Bass Pro" stickers on their shirts, Vance Tice and Raymond Grace were two such opponents at the Fred B. Karl County Center on Wednesday. "They should pay their way," Raymond Grau, who works with Lee Fisher International, a sport-fishing and net-fishing outfitter, said …
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
"It takes a village" to rid store shelves of synthetic marijuana, says a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office major, in discussing last year's crackdown on K2 and Spice. County Commissioners today, Feb. 20, were to discuss a new law to aid in that effort.
Major Tom Feeney made a fervent plead to parents, neighbors, clergy and community members to help law enforcement rid store shelves of dangerous synthetic marijuana, sold in brightly colored packages aimed toward youth. "I can tell you, it takes a village. Law enforcement can't do it by themselves," Feeney said. "We need neighbors, we need clergy, to get the word out as soon as possible." Feeney made his remarks Dec. 7, at a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office press conference concerning "Operation All Smoked Up." He was standing besides tables loaded with confiscated synthetic marijuana, commonly known as "K2" and "Spice." "Children are going to get more and more attracted to this, just by virtue of what you see on these pacakages, and…
The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to address today, Feb. 20, a deal that would bring Bass Pro Shops to Brandon.
The Hillsborough County Commissioners at their Feb. 20 meeting were to hear again from the public on the proposed deal that would bring Bass Pro Shops to Brandon. The agenda item calls for the commisioners to approve a $6.25 million appropriation to share the costs of improvements to Palm River Road, the Delaney Lake Drive and Falkenburg Road intersection and Falkenburg Road. A group calling itself "Say No to Bass Pro" has been seeking support to sway the commissioners against spending tax funds to fund the road proposal that would pave the way for the Bass Pro Shps store in the complext known as the Estuary, at Falkenburg Road and Causeway Boulevard. ______________ RELATED COVERAGE ______________
Thursday, February 14, 2013
In time for Valentine's Day, Hillsborough County Commissioners will receive preliminary figures for the county’s estimated $3.2 billion fiscal year 2014 budget. The news isn't all rosy, but better than in years past.
Greater Brandon area residents looking for signs the local economy is improving might only need look to Hillsborough County for some encouragement. After facing losses that amounted to about $300 million over the past six years, Hillsborough County’s Budget Director Tom Fesler gets to present commissioners with some relatively good news Thursday, Feb. 14. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Fesler will provide commissioners with a preliminary budget analysis that spells out the county’s estimated revenues and expenses with a deficit that could prove to be as small as $3.2 million. Those projections are for the Fiscal Year 2014, which begins Oct. 1, 2013. (The analysis contains projections for fiscal years 2013-18.) There is a catch with …
The Aug. 31 expiration of the Hillsborough County gas tax could mean good news at the pumps, but don’t bank on it. Officials say the shortfall to the county's budget could amount to $22 million.
Greater Brandon area residents hoping to save a little at the pumps could get a reprieve if Hillsborough County’s 6-cent local option gas tax is allowed to expire Aug. 31. But don't bank on it. If the county would allow the tax to sunset this summer, it could deliver a financial blow of about $22 million to Hillsborough’s budget, officials say. The County Commission meets Feb. 14 in a workshop, where it will hear preliminary budget figures for Fiscal Year 2014, which begins on Oct. 1, 2013. That 6-cent gas tax is used by the county to fund road maintenance projects and transportation operations. Without the revenue stream, the county’s anticipated $3.2 million budget deficit would likely grow to about $25.2 million, said Tom Fesler, the …
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Gornto Lake Road will extend from Brandon Boulevard (State Road 60) to Lumsden Road, then through to Bloomingdale Avenue, using the existing roadway section.
When the dust is cleared on the Gornto Lake Road extension, motorists will have a straight shot from Brandon Boulevard (State Road 60) to Lumsden Road, then on to Bloomingdale Avenue using the existing roadway section. At a cost of $3.95-million, Hillsborough County officials have bought 0.738 miles of a four-lane divided roadway with turn lanes, "from south of Brandon Boulevard to approximatley 800 feet south of [Brandon] Town Center Bouleveard." That marks the east to west entrance of the Westfield Brandon shopping mall, where a sign gives testament to the construction work under way. Construction started in October and is expected to finish late this year, with the time for completion noted as "365 calendar days." According to a …
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Parking lot improvements are under way at the Sandy Rodriguez Center on Vonderburg Drive, which houses both the Brandon Regional Library and the Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association.
Major improvements have been under construction at the front parking lot to the Sandy Rodriguez Center in Brandon, which houses both the Brandon Regional Library and the Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association. The library ranks fourth in monthly circulation of materials and third in the number of visits among all branches of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System. Parking has been an ongoing concern at the center and this project is designed to add six spots to the mix. ______________ What's your take on the front parking lot improvements at the Brandon Regional Library and Center Place parking lot? Have you had parking concerns? Glad to see the additional six parking spots? ______________ Final completion of …
BOMX55
8:55 am on Friday, February 15, 2013
I think this tax serves a purpose, unfortunately costs are going UP on everything and will continue to do so, we are headed to a severe depression as I see it and this is the cost of doing business in this economy. We don't have Leaders to lead us out of this yet. more ›