Deliverable One documents that both substantial efforts/achievements and shortcomings/areas to improve are apparent in the preparation for the 1989 referendum, presentation of the one-cent sales tax to Leon County voters, and stewardship of tax revenues over the past decade

Florida TaxWatch recommends the following Performance and Accountability Improvement Plan that the Leon County and Tallahassee City Commissions should evaluate, refine and commit to prior to presenting the November 2000 ballot referendum. While it would have been preferable to include some of these provisions -- such as annual oversight by a citizens advisory committee -- in the referendum, it is essential that they be adopted by Ordinance or Resolution. Additionally, relevant parts of the Plan should be amended into the County's 1989 Ordinance and the City's 1989 Resolution for the remaining four years of the current sales tax. These two actions will demonstrate good faith to the community and help increase voter confidence that the County and City Commissions accept responsibility for past shortcomings, and are taking actions to assure improved accountable performance in the future.

Two further steps to promote good stewardship and prudent financial and operational planning for expenditure of proposed sales tax extension revenues are (1) to develop contingency plans with alternative scenarios and options for dealing with currently unforeseen but possible Blueprint 2000, County and City project time delays occasioned by factors such as right of way and permitting problems and neighborhood preferences and (2) to estimate operational and maintenance costs over the first fifteen years of the capital improvements proposed to be funded by the sales tax extension.

Governance

The Leon County Commission and Tallahassee City Commission should, by Ordinance and/or Resolution:

As approved by the Commissions on July 10, 2000, provide for an annual independent performance and financial audit of sales tax monies and projects to be reviewed by a Citizens Advisory Committee appointed by the County and City Commissions;

Include a provision that if, at any time during the life of the sales tax extension, an independent audit shows that project completion dates or project budgets fall below 80% compliance, the following will occur:

A public hearing will be held to explain the reasons for lack of timely project performance and/or project overspending;

The County and City will publish the reasons for lack of timely project performance and/or project overspending in a newspaper of countywide circulation, together with corrective measures to be taken;

The performance of the senior County and City management staff will be evaluated in part on achieving sales tax project results.

Specify that during the life of the sales tax extension, 80% of the revenue will be allocated to Blueprint 2000 projects, and the remaining 20% will be split equally between the County and City for their respective projects.

Restrict the use of sales tax extension revenues to Blueprint 2000 projects listed in the Ordinance or Resolution unless at least eight of the12 members of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (County and City Commissions) or a majority plus one of a sales tax authority finds that extraordinary circumstances warrant funding other critical needs ahead of said projects.

Specify procedures to be followed for altering sales tax projects.

Restrict the use of sales tax extension revenues for the County's and City's separate projects to those projects listed in the Ordinance or Resolution unless a majority plus one of the respective Commission finds that extraordinary circumstances warrant funding other critical needs ahead of said projects.

Require development of a joint County/City strategic plan for utilizing one-cent sales tax revenues, including project completion dates, project budgets and responsibility for project management.

Monthly management reports for internal use and quarterly project status reports for Commissioners and the public should be jointly prepared by the County and City.

Require an annual independent assessment of costs and benefits to the community in commonly understood terms in order to improve citizen understanding, engage the community and promote better stewardship of tax resources.

Issue a Status Report on 1989-2004 Sales Tax Projects

List, in an easily understandable format, the current status of each project on the County's and City's 1989 priority lists, and the status of projects added since 1989.

Update Leon County Ordinance 89-14 and City of Tallahassee Resolution 89-R-0024 to list projects that will be completed between December 1, 2000 and November 30, 2004 when the current sales tax expires, plus those to be completed after November 30, 2004.

Public Information Campaign on Sales Tax Extension

In order to provide voters with accurate, realistic and uniform expectations, the public education/information campaign to inform voters about a sales tax extension should include a standard information package, approved in concept by the County and City Commissions, for presentations to the community as a whole as well as to various business, neighborhood and public forums. This package should clearly communicate the following:

Major road projects take six to ten years to complete, provided funding is available as needed for each phase.

The size and complexity of some Blueprint 2000 projects will require a decade or longer to complete.

In contrast to "advance" (state reimbursed) funding of state roadway projects by the City and County under the 1989-2004 sales tax, state roadway projects in the 2005-19 sales tax extension plan will be "direct" funded by the City and County with no state reimbursement. This is because the County and City Commissions have determined that annual funding of approximately $8 to $10 million from the Florida Department of Transportation that currently is earmarked to reimburse the City and County for their advance funding of state roadway projects will be needed to pay for non-sales tax projects involving County and City roadways.

It would take more than 50 years at the current annual level of state funding of $8-10 million to pay for all state road projects that are proposed in Blueprint 2000. In other words, projects that can be completed in 15 years using sales tax extension revenues would require 50 years to complete using only state funding.

Maintenance of state roadways will continue to be the responsibility of the Florida Department of Transportation, regardless of the source of funding improvements.

Project additions, modifications and deletions may occur as priorities and conditions change, and as community preferences and environmental concerns are incorporated into project designs.

Program Planning and Administration

Blueprint 2000 projects, as well as County and City projects to be funded by one-cent sales tax extension revenues, should include estimated costs of design, right of way, stormwater mitigation, and resources earmarked for including citizens' and neighborhoods' preferences;

A comprehensive sequencing/scheduling plan should be developed based on projected revenues and years required to complete each project. Planning, design, acquisition and construction phases should be spelled out to prevent revenue from accumulating, giving the public the appearance that it is not needed and/or is not being utilized appropriately.

The City of Tallahassee should appoint project-specific citizen advisory committees patterned after Leon County's public participation program. Under the County initiative, citizens living or working on or near a proposed project participate as equals with transportation professionals and consultants on transportation corridor study projects, and their involvement continues during the design and engineering phases, up to the ribbon cutting.

Improve pre-qualification of contractors whose work regularly results in higher quality constructed projects, normally at a lower cost, and avoidance of contractors who file frivolous claims for additional compensation or who are extremely uncooperative.

Request contractors to bid both cost and construction time on a project when there will be a quantifiable cost savings to the public for earlier use of the project. The quantified savings per day times the difference in construction times bid by the contractors can then be used to determine if an apparent non-low bid is actually less expensive to the public when the bid price and cost savings, due to earlier completion, are considered.

Provide increased incentives for timely consultant completion by design consultants and contractors, and increased penalties for delay. Design consultants, as well as contractors, normally take as long as they are allowed for completion of a project designs. This maximizes the total project completion time and may result in project delays and cost increases.

Provide incentives for more construction contractors to bid on projects. For example, package projects in bids to provide possibility of multi-million contract awards to increase out of area contractors and increase competition.

Consider providing bonuses for designated City and County staff whose exemplary performance helps to complete one-cent sales tax projects ahead of time and under the final budget after contract letting.

Joint County and City staffing for Blueprint 2000 sales tax projects should be considered.

As agreed to by the County and City, financial responsibility for accounting and auditing of Blueprint 2000 projects should be handled by either the County or City, not both.

Provide reports to the Citizens Advisory Committee and the City and County Commissions with respect to each project, after the design thereof, detailing said design's compliance with the intent and language of the Blueprint 2000 report.

Cost Savings

The County and City should commit to a 5-year goal of reducing administrative costs relating to one-cent sales tax funded projects through functional consolidation of staff, equipment, purchasing and other processes.

Program Review

The County and City Commissions should consider adopting joint policies and priorities for the sales tax extension program which should be evaluated as part of an annual independent performance audit and reported to the public.

Except in extraordinary circumstances, the Metropolitan Planning Organization (County and City Commissions) or sales tax authority should hold not more than annual public hearings for modification of Blueprint 2000 projects. Proposed amendments to County or City projects should also be addressed by the respective Commissions at this meeting.

The Citizens Advisory Committee should annually review the County's and City's documentation of quantitative and qualitative improvements and benefits resulting from one-cent local option sales tax-funded law enforcement and road projects (i.e. reduced travel time, increased safety, reduced congestion, reduced emissions and other benefits).

Sales tax project status reports should include reasons for budget increases and project delays.