Taking Back Hillsborough County: An Elected Non-Partisan Mayor

Proposed amendments would give Hillsborough a mayor and change how it is run.

By Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer
Published March 2, 2008

....That executive will be in charge, at least on paper, of the region's largest local government by far, not including the school district. The person will represent nearly 1.2-million people over 1,000 square miles, from the West Shore business district to the tomato fields of Wimauma.

The person who wins the job will craft a budget that currently consumes $4-billion in taxpayer dollars a year on everything from garbage pickup to road building, and pays a work force of 10,000 people.

And he or she will do so for a part of Florida that is growing quickly.

Given the stakes, a fierce battle will play out in the coming months between proponents of the measure and defenders of the status quo. Advocates on both sides already are taking up positions.
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* Hillsborough County charter

[PDF files:]
* Petition form: Providing county mayor with veto powers; providing board power to override with two-thirds
* Petition form: Replacing the current appointed administrator with a nonpartisan elected county mayor