Adria Curioso’s commute began at 5:30 a.m.
Before most of the city stirred, she walked from her apartment off Fowler Avenue and 22nd Street to her first bus stop, indicated by a pole beside a six-lane road.
One bus took her south. Another took her west, where she’d sit under an unlit shelter, the sky still dark. The last bus drove north again, finally dropping her off for work as a paraprofessional at Carrollwood K-8 School.
Driving between home and work would take less than 15 minutes. By bus, Curioso spent 90 minutes commuting each way until she changed jobs last year.
“There’s certain things I haven’t been able to do in my life because of public transit restrictions,” she said. “I have to plan for the possibility that if I get this job, can I even make it there in a reasonable timeline?”
Thousands of Hillsborough County riders like Curioso rely on a system that barely works. Most bus lines require riders to wait 30 minutes or an hour between buses, often impractical for those due at work.
Less than a decade ago, Hillsborough County boasted the largest budget of the region’s transit agencies. But since 2017, Hillsborough has struggled to fund rising expenses, spurring leaders to chop routes while losing thousands of weekday riders. Meanwhile, Pinellas has at times outpaced Hillsborough’s transit spending since 2018.
Now Hillsborough is in search of answers to avoid more cuts within three years.
An increase in property taxes to fund the bus system can’t even make it to the ballot without Hillsborough Republicans’ approval. Commissioners Christine Miller and Josh Wostal have already voiced disapproval with moving a tax increase forward, even if voters would have a final say in 2026.
But Wostal has another idea to cut taxes for some constituents — and raise more funds for transit. It’s in line with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposal to eliminate property taxes in Florida.
Wostal’s proposal
What if Tampa could impose its own sales tax to fund public transit within city limits?
Wostal’s idea would bolster urban transit while possibly spurring service cuts for the rest of Hillsborough County. Some 1.1 million residents live outside the city of Tampa.
The plan could also save the average homeowner almost $200 per year, according to an agency estimate developed using the median home price in Hillsborough.
The move, in Wostal’s mind, would satisfy two parts of his constituency: urban Tampa residents who crave better transit, and car-reliant residents in outer parts of the county — Fish Hawk, Plant City, Brandon, unincorporated parts of New Tampa — who are uninterested in paying for bus service.
Voters in Tampa largely supported a one-cent transportation sales tax in 2018, which would have steered more dollars to Hillsborough buses. Opposition was most intense in east and south Hillsborough County. The measure passed but was later struck down by the Florida Supreme Court.
Tampa currently generates at least half of the sales tax revenue in all of Hillsborough County, Wostal said, citing numbers from the state Department of Revenue. That means a half-cent tax on every dollar spent in the city could raise around $100 million for buses — roughly $20 million more than the entire county generates through property taxes.
There are road blocks to Wostal’s proposal. A Tampa-only sales tax would require a change in state law, which could drag out the process for years. And Tampa City Council Member Luis Viera, who chairs the Hillsborough bus agency board, said he’s reluctant to support a plan that may curtail service for residents outside city limits.
“I support the rights of cities to have their own sales tax, but as an addition to our mass transit system, not a replacement for it,” Viera said. “You’ve got to think county-wide.”
Curioso’s past commute illustrates the overlaps between Tampa and the surrounding county. She lived within Tampa, but worked in Carrollwood, an unincorporated community. Limited routes to areas of Hillsborough County like New Tampa have already thwarted job opportunities and narrowed where she can spend her money.
“It helps everyone in the surrounding area to have a connected (bus) network,” she said.
Wostal said Tampa could maintain bus routes into the county and Temple Terrace through inter-local agreements. Or Hillsborough could maintain a smaller property tax to fund important routes.
“It’s not even about cuts,” he said. “It’s about reorganizing.”
But some are still concerned about what a different funding system could mean for a fast-growing area like south Hillsborough County.
“I do know that if we only plan for Tampa in terms of raising this revenue, we’re missing out on three-quarters of the county that we’re expected to have an astronomical level of growth over the next 20 to 25 years, and we’re going to end up right in (this) same position, if not worse,” said Gary Hartfield, a citizen appointee to the bus agency board.
How underfunded is Hillsborough County’s system?
With an operating budget of $117.3 million, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority is on track to spend less this year than Orlando’s and Pinellas County’s transit systems.
Pinellas spends about $124 per resident on its bus system. Hillsborough spends just $74 per person. Compared to other top metro areas in different states, Hillsborough falls even further behind. Austin, Texas, spends more than double per person compared to Hillsborough. Denver, Colorado spends five times as much.
Part of the problem is how little Hillsborough can collect for transit from property taxes. Pinellas imposes about a 73-cent transit tax per each $1,000 of assessed property value, generating around $70 million.
Hillsborough’s tax, roughly two-thirds of what Pinellas imposes, brings in only slightly more revenue for a bus agency that must serve around 500,000 more people.
The bus system is collecting the same from each home that it was in 2012.
Fortunately, Hillsborough County also has more than 300,000 new residents since 2012, some of whom are adding more money to the pot. But their contributions of 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value aren’t enough to fund basic operations into 2030.
If Hillsborough made its transit property tax 75 cents, similar to Pinellas’s, 16 routes would see increased frequencies, including popular routes along Florida and Nebraska avenues, according to a presentation by Temple Terrace Republican Gil Schisler this month.
If Hillsborough doubled its current transit tax, it could restore 14 routes that were cut in the last decade.
As Hillsborough has shed routes, riders have disappeared. In 2017, 50,000 people boarded the bus during the weekday. Now it’s down to less than 35,000.
What would it take to get Wostal’s plan approved?
The short answer: it would take years, and lots of political buy-in.
Florida’s counties are the only local authorities that can levy sales taxes. Cities can’t impose them, according to current state law.
To give cities their own sales tax authority, the state would have to change how it administers such taxes. Sales taxes are currently assessed by zip code. Many of Tampa’s zip codes include portions of the city and unincorporated county, Schisler said.
Changing state statutes “could be done, but it’s not going to happen anytime soon,” Schisler said. “It would be a major philosophical overhaul to the state of Florida Department of Revenue.”
Wostal is more optimistic. He said he’s spoken to four members of the Legislature representing Hillsborough County and gotten positive feedback so far. But it will be harder to earn their public support, he said, when changing tax laws could benefit Tampa’s liberal City Council.
Wostal’s goal is to get a bill revamping the tax code through next year’s legislative session. From there, it would be up to the local bodies that constitute Hillsborough County — the county board and three city councils — to agree on a plan to remake the bus agency. Cooperation is far from guaranteed.
Some local officials seemed intrigued by Wostal’s proposal.
Making Tampa pay for most of the area’s transit? “Sounds brilliant,” said Miller, a Republican Hillsborough commissioner.
“I’m open to any ideas that would increase funding for transit in the City of Tampa,” said Lynn Hurtak, who sits on Tampa City Council.
But Schisler argues time is running out now, before Hillsborough must cut bus service yet again.
“We already have a funding mechanism in place with” property taxes, he said. “Use it.”
