If you live in Florida, you’ve been barraged by claims from government officials- police, firefighters, Sheriffs (even the grandstanding Grady Judd) telling you that if Amendment 3 passes, they will have to cut vital services because your local government is so lean, there is nothing left to cut.
Until you actually look behind the curtain. In 2024, Hillsboro county spent over $200,000 buying a Steinway piano for its performing arts center. The county-run venue hosts a continuous rotation of community events, local theater productions, and school showcases. I’m sure there is a real need for a quarter million dollar piano for elementary school dance recitals.
The April 5, 2024, inaugural concert featuring this piano was a collaborative showcase by Tampa-area music professors from the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa. In other words, these college grifters wanted an expensive piano and got you the taxpayer to pay for it. Suckers.
Because the facility maxes out at a 354-seat capacity, ticket revenue from low-cost community events (which often cost around $15 to $20 per ticket) cannot cover the facility’s day-to-day operations. Instead, NTPAC operates explicitly as a publicly subsidized civic infrastructure under the Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation department. So when you are forking out your $5000 annual property tax payment under threat of losing police, fire, and school services, remember you are doing so because some community college music professor needs to have a quarter million dollar piano so he can play it at a middle school dance recital.
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