POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida House bill would have allowed for the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority and Citrus Connection to be dissolved.
However, House Bill 7013 was modified after Citrus Connection Executive Director Tom Phillips and his staff alerted law makers of the possibility.
What You Need To Know
- A Florida House bill would have allowed voters to dissolve Citrus Connection in Polk County
- Citrus Connection officials quickly worked with lawmakers to change the bill
- 2.4 million riders use Citrus Connection each year
The bill would have given voters the option to vote every 10 years to dissolve the tax district and only give Citrus Connection 90 days to liquidate all assets.
Tax districts became a big issue with Governor Ron DeSantis amid a long-standing feud with the Reedy Creek Improvement District — which he later changed to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
Phillips says that the service has 2.4 million riders each year and that more than half of the riders use the bus service to get to work.
“Polk County is the fastest growing county in the fastest growing state,” said Phillips. “But we are also the 7th poorest suburban area in the United States and about 15% of our total population is at or below the poverty line,” Phillips said.
Phillips worked closely with legislatures to make sure that the future of Citrus Connection is assured for the time being.
“The moment we learned about this, our Government Affairs folks headed directly up to Tallahassee,” Phillips said. “I followed the next day and started knocking on doors…ultimately, they really heard it and the bill was amended.”
Jeff Van Sant
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