The Penny for Pinellas funds approximately 75% of the Pinellas County’s capital improvement budget. The most recent Penny renewal has extended the tax through 2020.

Without the Penny, many public projects would not be completed until well into the future, if at all. In 2007, the Penny generated an amount of revenue equal to 2.3 mills worth of property taxes.

But, as with many of the county’s revenue sources, revenues from the Penny for Pinellas have been impacted dramatically by the current economic recession. Average collections regarding the Penny for Pinellas have decreased over the last three years and are forecast to continue to decrease through Fiscal Year 2010. This is by far the longest downturn the county has experienced in Penny sales tax revenue since its inception in 1990.

The negative growth in Penny revenue over the last three years is not consistent with the original growth assumptions that were anticipated in 2006, when the Board of County Commissioners first developed their allocation plan for Penny funds.

Originally, the Penny program from 2010 to 2020 was anticipated to generate $1.9 billion.

Due to the severe recession, Penny revenues from 2010 to 2020 are expected to dramatically decrease. New estimates reduce the county’s portion of expected Penny revenues by $233M over the coming ten-year period, and have resulted in more of a “pay as you go” approach to the county’s capital improvement budget.

For complete details on how reductions of Penny revenues will impact the county’s capital improvement budget, see our FY2009/10 budget message, (beginning on page 69).

• FY09/10 Capital Improvement Program Presentation
• FY09/10 Capital Improvement Program Handout

• The Penny for Pinellas is paid by all who spend money in the county, including tourists and other visitors who contribute about a third.
• Approximately 46% of the proposed projects are transportation related, in direct relation to citizen focus groups on how to improve the community here in Pinellas County.