Citrus Chronicle
By: Terry Witt (terrywitt@chronicleonline.com)
Published: 9-Oct-2006

County Commissioner Gary Bartell, as this year's chairman, had to steer county government through politically stormy waters at times, even as he campaigned for a fifth term in office.

He supported the 6-cent gas tax as a funding source to build and widen roads, supported reducing the tax rate by a full mill, voted against closing a public street in Homosassa, and voted to allow a business owner in Old Homosassa to expand her motel with four-story buildings.

Asked if he felt the series of events had placed him at the center of a whirling vortex, Bartell calmly said, "That's just the effects of growth." He said every government handles the same issues, but with good planning it can be managed.

"I look at it as a challenge," Bartell said.

Bartell, the District 2 commissioner for 16 years, said he didn't like voting for the additional 6-cent gasoline tax, but no one offered a good alternative. He said the county can borrow money against the gas tax, and he said the users of the roads pay the tax at the pump.

But Bartell said he is not opposed to giving voters the choice of switching from a gas tax to fund transportation needs.

"I have no problems going to the public and saying, which do you want, sales tax or gas tax," he said. "The alternative is not to build the roads."

Concerning Suncoast Parkway 2, Bartell said he thinks he made the right choice to back an old project study completed eight years ago rather than support the most recent Project Development and Environment study, which might take three to five years to finish and would hinge on federal funding.

He said he insisted the Florida Turnpike Enterprise update the environmental, financial and traffic information in the study before coming back for final county approval. He said the added information would ensure the road would be used and impacts to communities are minimal.

Bartell said the county also would insist the state address protection of the three first-magnitude springs on the coast as part of the updated toll road study.

"If water quality is our No. 1 issue, we want that addressed," he said.

Bartell said he has not ignored stormwater issues, as one opponent claimed. He said every major new development in the county must develop a stormwater collection and treatment system.

He said the county is working with the Florida Department of Transportation on developing a system for collecting and treating runoff from the highway before it reaches coastal waters.