After years of delays, St. Petersburg finally appears to be poised to fulfill a pledge to voters and build a modern police headquarters that the city desperately needs. Mayor Rick Kriseman and Pinellas County Administrator Mark Woodard have negotiated a reasonable compromise to use Penny for Pinellas money to build a first-class downtown headquarters for $70 million. Now it's up to the County Commission and the St. Petersburg City Council to examine the fine print before they approve it and ensure the agreement is fair for both county and city taxpayers.
Like the stalemates over a new pier and the Tampa Bay Rays' quest for a new stadium, the need for a new police headquarters was one of those big unresolved issues that Kriseman inherited last year from two previous mayors. St. Petersburg promised voters in 2007 that it would build a police headquarters with Penny for Pinellas money. Rising costs, declining tax revenues because of the economic recession and squabbles over the project's scope stalled the effort like so many other big decisions in the city.
What has never been in doubt is the need for a new police headquarters. Roughly 2,000 officers, civilian employees and volunteers are squeezed into decades-old, outdated buildings along First Avenue N that are too small and in sorry shape. There is little room to store evidence or question witnesses, and trying to bring the complex up to date would be a waste of public money. Yet scraping together the money for the new building has been complicated by a lack of creative ideas and declining tax revenue.
In 2012, then-Mayor Bill Foster gave up on building the headquarters that voters were promised in favor of a much smaller project because the Penny for Pinellas was bringing in less than expected. In 2013, the city was still grappling with three options, and the first two were unsatisfactory: 1. Spend $40 million for a smaller new building, keep half the current building open and board up the rest; 2. Spend $50 million on a slightly bigger building, keep half the current building open and demolish the rest; 3. Spend $68 million for the new building and a parking garage across First Avenue N from the existing headquarters, demolish the current buildings and sell the land.
Kriseman announced Saturday in his State of the City address that he will pursue the third option and has worked out a way with Woodard to come up with enough Penny for Pinellas money. It involves reallocating some $20 million from county Penny for Pinellas projects in St. Petersburg to the police headquarters, which is not a county project. In return for delaying those projects, Kriseman agreed to a reduction of $7 million in county Penny for Pinellas projects within the city because of the decline in tax revenues. The County Commission and the City Council will have to review the list of projects that will be delayed or scrapped, but the outlines of this agreement are reasonable.
While a $70 million police headquarters and parking garage is expensive, Kriseman says it would not be cost-effective to build half-solutions in phases and that the city will make money by selling the land where the current buildings sit. Woodard says the county also benefits, because the hurricane-hardened police headquarters will be a backup to the county's 911 center on Ulmerton Road. This is an example of a reasonable negotiation by the mayor and the county administrator that benefits both St. Petersburg and the county. It also would fulfill a major Penny for Pinellas promise made before voters extended the 1-cent sales tax in 2007, which is particularly important before the next vote on the sales tax in 2017.
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Explore all your optionsA lack of leadership and money, not need, has been the holdup for a St. Petersburg police headquarters. Now the leadership is there and the money has been found, and the project finally should move forward.