PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA

'Pinellas County' is a county located in the state of Florida. Its county seat is Clearwater, Florida⁶, and its largest city is St. Petersburg. The county is contained entirely within area code (727), except for sections of Oldsmar, which has area code 813. It shares area code 727 with parts of West Pasco County. Pinellas along with Hillsborough County and Pasco County comprises the Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater metro area, often called the Tampa Bay Area.

Contents

History

Geography

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Communities

Incorporated municipalities

Unincorporated

Unincorporated Area - Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU) Budget

Transportation

Airports

Mass transit

Railroads

Major highways

Education

External links

Government Links

Special districts

Judicial branch

Links of interest

History

:Timeline of Pinellas County, Florida history.
Pinellas County seceded from Hillsborough County in 1911, and was named for the Spanish ''Punta Piñal'' ("Point of Pines" or "Piney Point"). The Pinellas Peninsula, dividing Tampa Bay from the Gulf of Mexico, and a small part of the mainland were incorporated into the county.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,574 km² (608 mi²). 725 km² (280 mi²) of it is land and 849 km² (328 mi²) of it (53.94%) is water.

Adjacent counties

★ Pasco County, Florida - north

★ Hillsborough County, Florida - east and south (center span of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge which links St. Petersburg of Pinellas County to the Bradenton area of Manatee County is Hillsborough County so no portion of Pinellas County actually touches Manatee County)

Demographics

'Pinellas County Population by year [1]

'2006' 924,413 '2000' 921,482 '1990' 851,659 '1980' 728,531 '1970' 522,329 '1960' 374,665 '1950' 159,249 '1940' 91,852 '1930' 62,149 '1920' 28,265

As of the census² of 2000, there were 921,482 people, 414,968 households, and 243,171 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,271/km² (3,292/mi²), making it the most densely populated county in Florida. There were 481,573 housing units at an average density of 664/km² (1,720/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 85.85% White, 8.96% Black or African American, 0.30% Native American, 2.06% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.14% from other races, and 1.64% from two or more races. 4.64% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 414,968 households out of which 22.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.80% were married couples living together, 10.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.40% were non-families. 34.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.77.
In the county the population was spread out with 19.30% under the age of 18, 6.40% from 18 to 24, 27.30% from 25 to 44, 24.50% from 45 to 64, and 22.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 91.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.80 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $37,111, and the median income for a family was $46,925. Males had a median income of $32,264 versus $26,281 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,497. About 6.70% of families and 10.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.90% of those under age 18 and 8.20% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Incorporated municipalities

# Town of Belleair
# City of Belleair Beach
# City of Belleair Bluffs
# Town of Belleair Shore
# City of Clearwater
# City of Dunedin
# City of Gulfport
# City of Indian Rocks Beach
# Town of Indian Shores
# Town of Kenneth City
# City of Largo
# City of Madeira Beach
# Town of North Redington Beach
# City of Oldsmar
# City of Pinellas Park
# Town of Redington Beach
# Town of Redington Shores
# City of Safety Harbor
# City of Seminole
# City of South Pasadena
# City of St. Pete Beach
# City of St. Petersburg
# City of Tarpon Springs
# City of Treasure Island

Unincorporated

★ Bay Pines

★ East Lake

★ Feather Sound

★ Gandy

★ Harbor Bluffs

★ Palm Harbor

★ Ridgecrest

★ South Highpoint

★ Tierra Verde

★ West and East Lealman (Lealman)

Unincorporated Area - Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU) Budget

Roughly 280,000 people reside in unincorporated Pinellas County, which represents the 36 percent of the County not located within one of the 24 municipalities. The unincorporated areas include communities from the Pasco County line to Tierra Verde. As an unincorporated resident, the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners serves as your local government. A portion of the County budget (Municipal Services Taxing Unit) is paid by residents of the unincorporated area and is devoted to providing municipal services to the unincorporated area that are over and above the services provided to the county as a whole.
Pursuant to section 218.64(1) Florida Statute, the county will receive approximately $16,000,000 from the Local Government Half-Cent Sales Tax Program on behalf of Pinellas County’s unincorporated area population for Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08). This is sales tax dollars that the state returns to the unincorporated area via their default local government the Pinellas County BOCC. The county is intending to only allocate $3,000,000 of it to the FY08 Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU) Budget (a $2,000,000 reduction from FY07).
The accumulated effect of having such a huge portion of one of the major revenue sources diverted from the MSTU Budget is having a detrimental impact on basic public safety and quality of life in the unincorporated area.

'REVENUES	FY08	FY07'
Ad Valorem Taxes	40,750,020	43,535,660
Local Gov't 1/2¢ Sales Tax	3,000,000	5,000,000
Communications Services Tax	12,838,480	13,200,500
Building Permits	4,612,420	4,379,300
Zoning Fees	702,360	752,840
Interest and Miscellaneous	701,200	491,820
Tree Removal Permits	413,860	409,830
Franchise Fee - PEG	332,500	350,000
Tax Collector Excess Fees	252,650	189,820
Sheriff Excess Fees	237,500	215,800
Franchise Fee - I-Net	123,950	125,000
Delinquent Taxes & Tax Redemptions	118,240	104,800
Mobile Home Licenses	117,040	131,570
Sheriff Civil Income	84,000	114,380
Reimbursement of Impact Fee Admin.	60,000	63,150
Property Appraiser Excess Fees	3,810	4,940
Lot Clearing	7,420	29,000
'Subtotal - Revenues	'64,355,450	'69,098,410
Beginning Fund Balance	18,346,670	18,397,000'
'TOTAL RESOURCES	'82,702,120	'87,495,410

'EXPENDITURES & RESERVES	FY08	FY07'
Sheriff	39,966,850	40,330,190
Full Cost Allocation	5,706,650	5,785,990
Building Inspection	4,174,160	4,612,630
Development Review Services	2,951,890	2,983,590
Prior Years' Recreation Grants outstanding	2,760,000	0
MSTU Road Paving / Sidewalks / ADA	2,250,000	3,000,000
Environmental Management (incl Lot Clearing)	2,156,210	2,666,650
Public Works Permitted Facilities (Stormwater)	3,424,810	3,801,590
County Connection Centers	764,780	768,320
Property Appraiser Fees	425,020	449,290
East Lake Library Operating Grant	316,500	316,500
Economic Incentive Grants	63,800	63,800
MSTU New Service Initiatives	0	350,000
Recreation Initiatives	0	2,243,470
Neighborhood Grants	0	250,000
Other Transfers to Capital Projects Fund	0	750,000
Fire Hydrant Systems	0	500,000
Communications: Public Access	0	351,100
'Subtotal - Expenditures	65,808,850	70,113,340'
Reserve for Contingencies'	2,481,064	2,685,720
Reserve - Fund Balance	14,412,206	14,696,350
'TOTAL EXPENDITURES & RESERVES	'82,702,120	'87,495,410

★ FY08 is Requested and FY07 is Budget
=== Unincorporated communities not Census Designated Places ===

★ Baskin ''(portion annexed by the city of Largo)''

★ Highpoint ''(portion in South Highpoint CDP)''

★ Oakhurst

★ Seminole Park

★ Walsingham
=== Unincorporated communities part of Palm Harbor CDP Census Designated Place ===

★ Crystal Beach - Has a U.S. Post Office with a post office box mail system. It is a non-delivery office. The zip code for Crystal Beach is 34681.

★ Curlew

★ Innisbrook

★ Ozona - Has a U.S. Post Office with a post office box mail system. It is a non-delivery office. The zip code for Ozona 34660.

★ St. George

★ Wall Springs

Transportation

Airports

★ St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport

★ Albert Whitted Airport

★ Clearwater Air Park

Mass transit

Pinellas County has the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) as the public transit provider, with major stops at all local malls and employment centers. There are 197 buses and trolleys that serve 43 routes, in addition to the 2 express routes to downtown Tampa via the Howard Frankland and Gandy Bridges, connecting with HartLine. The 2 main bus terminals are located in downtown Clearwater and downtown St. Petersburg, with routes bisecting and crossing the entire county. During fiscal year 2005-06 PSTA transported 11,400,484 passengers.

Railroads

CSX operates a branch line which sees daily rail traffic from north Tampa though Safety Harbor, Clearwater, Largo, and into downtown St. Petersburg and the adjacent industrial areas.
The former Seaboard Coast Line branch from the western coastal portion of the county was abandoned in the latter portion of the 20th century and converted to a popular recreational trail called the Pinellas Trail.

Major highways

★ Interstate 275 including the Howard Franklin Bridge which connects northern St. Petersburg to Tampa and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge which connects southern St. Petersburg to the Bradenton area

★ Interstate 175

★ Interstate 375

★ U.S. Route 19 - Alternate 19

★ U.S. Route 92 - 4th Street North/Gandy Boulevard including the Gandy Bridge which connects southern Tampa to eastern St. Petersburg

★ East Lake Road/McMullen-Booth Road

★ Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard including the Courtney Campbell Causeway which connects eastern Clearwater to the Tampa International Airport area and northwestern Hillsborough County

★ Gulf Boulevard

★ State Road 580

Education

The county is served by the Pinellas County Schools district.

External links

Government Links

★ Pinellas County Government / Board of County Commissioners

★ Pinellas County Property Appraiser

★ Pinellas County Sheriff's Office

★ Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections

★ Pinellas County Tax Collector

★ Pinellas Planning Council

★ Pinellas County GIS Maps

Special districts

★ Pinellas County Public Schools

★ Southwest Florida Water Management District

Judicial branch

★ Clerk of the Circuit Court, Pinellas County

★ Public Defender for the 6th Judicial Circuit serving Pinellas and Pasco Counties

★ Office of the State Attorney, 6th Judicial Circuit

★ Circuit and County Court for the 6th Judicial Circuit of Florida

Links of interest

★ Hillsborough County Maps from when Pinellas was part of Hillsborough

★ Maps of early Pinellas County

★ Fort Desoto

★ Pinellas County Florida Cooperative Extension Service

★ Pinellas County Master Gardener Program

★ The Florida Botanical Gardens - A Pinellas County Government Program