Better Call Behnken: Pasco changing controversial way it pays to pave roads

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — In 2021, our Better Call Behnken investigation exposed how a controversial paving system in Pasco County left neighborhoods on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Change has been three years in the making. Now, that paving program is changing.

Pasco is changing from its PVAS system, which directly charged property owners along the road to a new system that charges property owners on their yearly tax bill. Amounts will be based on property values, instead of the amount that roads cost to pave.

“For every $100,000, we’re going to charge that $51.84 of the value of the homes,” County Commissioner Ron Oakley said.

Here’s what that means: if your taxable value is $164,000, the bill would be around $85 each year.

“You take a $100 bill, you’re going to pay for roads all over the county, and as a citizen, we all want to help each other. The fact of it is, it’s not a hardship,” Oakley said.

This is quite a change from when Better Call Behnken featured stories of upset homeowners in 2021, struggling to pay their PVAS bills. Property homeowners could pay the bill all at once or make yearly payments, with interest. That option would include a lien attached to their home.

Residents in the Cranes Roost neighborhood were fuming in 2021, after receiving certified letters from Pasco County calling their roads “very poor” and saying they needed to be repaved.
and even though the roads are owned by the county, residents would get the bills, estimated between $6,100 and $7,000 a household.

In Lacoochee, residents faced bills as high as $20,000.

Laura Slane says she is thrilled with the change.

“I think that the fact that we stuck together at that time, we pushed it, we showed up at the meetings,” she said. “Because a lot of people were naysayers, ‘You’ll never get them to change. They’ll do whatever they want to do.’ It does show that if you persist and become a thorn in their side, you’ll get somewhere, not always, but if you don’t do anything, nothing’s going to happen.”

County officials said as long as you are current on your bill, those liens will go away and your balance will go away. It will be replaced by your new amount, determined by your home value. This should show up on your November tax bill.

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