For almost 30 years, the city of Tampa has utilized a system in which taxes earned from rising property values in certain, poorer neighborhoods are funneled back into these communities for various public projects.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, this multi-neighborhood system relies on property values exceeding a set base value. Once the average property value exceeds the base value in these select communities, city officials utilize the resulting taxes for public projects including road and sidewalk construction as well as governmental support for small, local businesses.
But now, as we still recover from the economic recession and subsequent blow to property values across the board, this system is hardly the ideal it used to be. In fact, the city and region have lost about 10 years worth of property value growth as a result according to the Times.
Mayor Buckhorn's 2013 city budget, expected to go to city council on September 13, allots $17 million for these six special districts or Community Redevelopment Areas (CRA's) - a an amount deteriorated by almost 50 percent since 2010.
The main concern in all of this is that these communities are becoming less self-supporting and likely more dependent on the city to fund these projects than ever before.
According to the Times, the neighborhood affect most by the real estate is the East Tampa CRA. The district has gone from producing over $4 million in tax revenue in 2010 to less than $31,000 this year.
Other CRAs in the city include Downtown Tampa and Channelside, both of which have been steady earners since their inception. The Drew Park CRA in Westshore has experienced a loss similar to that of East Tampa's - earning $1.6 million in tax revenue in 2009 to under $600,000 now.
Central Park and Tampa Heights Riverfront, the remaining two CRAs, are largely vacant and generate little income for the city according to the Times.
