County to accept $208.6 million in state surtax funds to resurface state-selected roads

Hillsborough County commissioners on April 2 approved agreements with the Florida Department of Transportation to accept $208,591,836 in state surtax funds for resurfacing state-selected roads within the county and separate tri-party agreements allocating $30,679,255 to the city of Tampa and Temple Terrace.

The funding represents the return of previously collected transportation surtax dollars from the 2018 citizen-approved referendum and will be used to resurface state-selected roadways across Hillsborough County. The board also amended the FY2025–2029 capital improvement program and adopted a budget amendment to appropriate the $208.6 million for the road-repaving surtax project.

The county’s assistant administrator, Kim Beyer, told the board the funds are “the return of a previously collected transportation surtax dollars from the 2018 citizen approved referendum” and that the money will be used to resurface state-selected roads. Engineering staff said the agreement defines two tiers of projects: the county is required to complete the first tier; the second tier is optional and may be pursued if funding remains.

Josh Vlade, engineering and operations director, said staff had worked closely with FDOT and that the county could advance its own budgeted projects while also executing these resurfacing projects. He said the county would not take on additional financial burden to complete the tier-1 projects and that the county’s existing capital program would continue to be managed alongside the resurfacing work.

Commissioner Welsdell reminded the public that the county did not select which roads the state designated for resurfacing, noting the selection and ordering were determined by state processes. Commissioners approved the agreement and related budget resolutions by unanimous vote.

Votes at a glance: B1 — Approve and execute agreement with Florida Department of Transportation to accept $208,591,836 in state surtax funds for road resurfacing; amend CIP and appropriate funds (motion carried 7–0). B2 — Approve two tri-party agreements allocating $30,679,255 to the city of Tampa and Temple Terrace for state-selected resurfacing projects; no financial impact to the county (motion carried 7–0).

The agreements return state-selected resurfacing projects to the county and to partner municipalities; the county’s next steps include executing the FDOT agreement and incorporating the projects into the county’s resurfacing schedule. Staff said project lists and sequencing were set by FDOT, and the county will coordinate implementation and scheduling with state staff.

The board recorded unanimous votes to approve both the county agreement and the municipal tri-party agreements.