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Pinellas leaders push back on regional MPO plan over voting imbalance
“The TMA Apportionment plan gives Hillsborough County 52% of the votes …”
A proposed merger of regional transportation planning bodies is drawing pushback from Pinellas County leaders, who argue the current structure would give Hillsborough County outsized control over billions in future infrastructure decisions.
The debate surfaced publicly during a Forward Pinellas meeting, where officials discussed a plan to combine Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties into a single Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), referred to as a Transportation Management Area (TMA).
Under the draft apportionment plan, Hillsborough County would receive 13 of 25 total votes, or 52%, despite representing roughly 48% of the region’s population. Pinellas would hold eight votes, or 32%, closely aligned with its population share, while Pasco would receive four votes, or 16%, below its roughly 19% share.
The additional weight for Hillsborough comes from representation tied to Tampa International Airport and Port Tampa Bay, both located within the county.
Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Scherer circulated a breakdown of the proposal ahead of the meeting, criticizing its structure as imbalanced and urging its rejection.
“The TMA Apportionment plan gives Hillsborough County 52% of the votes … Hillsborough is only 48% of the population,” the document states, concluding with a recommendation to reject the proposal.
The St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce echoed those concerns in a separate letter, supporting the concept of a regional MPO but opposing the current governance model.
Chamber President and CEO Chris Steinocher argued that while a unified planning body reflects how the Tampa Bay region functions economically, the proposed structure risks concentrating authority in one county. The letter specifically calls out the inclusion of airport and port representation as effectively granting Hillsborough additional influence, despite those assets serving a broader regional population.
Transportation planning organizations play a critical role in determining how state and federal funding is allocated for major infrastructure projects, including roads, transit and long-term mobility planning.
A regional MPO would allow for more coordinated decision-making and larger funding opportunities across county lines, particularly as population growth continues to blur traditional boundaries between Tampa Bay communities.
The Chamber’s letter urges a revised model that ensures more balanced representation among counties, and suggests mechanisms such as consensus or supermajority voting to prevent any single jurisdiction from dominating decisions.
As currently proposed, the plan has not been finalized, and further negotiations are expected.
S. Rose Smith-Hayes
April 14, 2026at6:32 pm
Counties lose autonomy when they combine such important issues. I thoroughly disagree with this idea.
John Rick
April 14, 2026at6:14 pm
Great article, Orlando aka Orange County has this same MPO with Seminole and Osceola Counties it works very well over there for the population those counties. They also share LYNX transportation and Sunrail if they really wanted to fix the problem everyone needs the same amount funds and consideration when I comes to Transportation. I’d throw in the pubic bus service from all three counties in there too make the system better make everyone pay their fair share. However Hillsbrough would ultimately. Have to run the show because of infrastructure the county carries for the rest of the other 2 counties and just to be correct the population count that you’ve got is combining Pinellas in Pasco together am I correct also all three counties could vote in the the members of the board that would be created from this proposal it would elevate most of the problems between the counties and funding