Things got tense again this week at Tampa City Council, but it wasn’t over one of the perceived controversial items. No, ShotSpotter passed 4-2 (Carlson, Hurkak no, Henderson absent at vote) with no discussion. It wasn’t the $1 million USDOT grant that requires certified compliance with Trump’s anti-DEI, anti-trans executive orders. That passed unanimously on consent.

It was when the new $250,000 consultant hired to oversee the construction of fire station 24 informed council the currently anticipated ground breaking was scheduled for September of 2026, with a completion over a year later. And while they did try to emphasis they were only a couple of weeks in and the goal was to tighten that timeline, it was too late. All council heard was a date 6 months later than what they thought they heard on February 6. It’s pretty clear reviewing the February meeting the design contract they were approving that day would run into late spring of 2026. Add another month between when council approved the contract and the mayor signed off on everything giving the firm the go ahead, the 461 days mentioned in February turns into June of 2026. What then got lost in translation is that doesn’t mean ground breaking. That is just how long the design process takes. There’s another 3 months of internal processes to authorize the build contract, resulting in a September construction start date.

What’s important to understand about this is the background. Money has been in the 5 year Capitol Improvement Plan (CIP) since 2022 (FY22) for station 24. In the fall of 2021 council approved a 5 year CIP that included $650,000 for design in the FY22 budget. In that CIP, it earmarked $11,577,300 for the construction in FY23. In FY23, the same $650,000 was in the CIP, with no additional planned spending. In FY24 there was $1.6 million for the station with $15,959,000 earmarked for FY25. For FY25 there is zero budgeted for station 24 with $20 million earmarked for FY26. If you want to dig deeper, take a look at how the 5 year CIP has changed fiscal year to fiscal year for Tampa Fire Rescue (TFR).

A note about the 5 year CIP—council can’t obligate future funds. They can plan on how they want to spend them, but they can only appropriate funds for the current fiscal year. The 5 year CIP is a state mandated document however. How it’s intended to be used and how it has been used is open for debate.

On Thursday, council was also being asked to consolidate 2 previous reimbursement resolutions with $105 million in new projects. That discussion was pushed until an August budget workshop. What’s relevant to station 24 (and other TFR projects) is station 24 appears on both of the prior reimbursement resolutions. It was part of the $80 million reimbursement resolution passed in 2022. The same reimbursement resolution that included Fair Oaks (then called East Tampa Rec Center). Station 24 was also included in a separate reimbursement resolution for $50 passed in February of 2024 that included the TFR maintenance and supply relocation.

The Tampa Fire Rescue CIP is a pretty good example of how the city has failed to use the 5 year CIP as a real plan; just moving numbers around making it look like something is getting done. Council must approve any changes to the CIP. Last year, the 5 year CIP passed with zero discussion. There were hardly any discussions during the workshops about capital projects in general. I’m sure they are tired of me saying it, but they spent more time discussing the $2.9 million in social action and arts funding than they did the CIP.

I have been trying to make the case that the 5 year CIP should be a stricter blueprint/roadmap. The hard decisions on what to build made during the budget process. Less aspiration and more reality. As we start to transition to a new admin, the incoming mayor and council should have a clear understanding of where projects are and let that be the substantive discussion during the election. Priorities can change, modifications made, but they should be deliberative, not throwing darts at a cork board full of projects each year.

The conversation isn’t over, the item will be returning on June 26th for another scheduled update.