Tallahassee agency’s own 2025 budget agenda said a $20 million road loan was already gone

Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency’s May 8, 2025 budget workshop agenda states that the Florida Department of Transportation “has indicated that the SIB Loan program will not have significant funding available as this funding was redirected to the Governor’s Moving Florida Forward Initiative.”1 The State Infrastructure Bank loan program was the source of a $20 million loan the agency had programmed for construction of its Tharpe Street road project in fiscal 2030.2,3 About 16 months later, Item #6 on the agenda for the agency’s September 24, 2026 board meeting states that the $20 million loan “has therefore been removed from the long-range funding plan,” after SIB funding available to local government entities like Blueprint “has been substantially reduced.”4,5,6

FOX49 first reported that the Northwest Connector: Tharpe Street project’s estimated cost is now $62.3 million, that Blueprint has allocated $9.5 million so far, and that this leaves a projected $52.8 million funding need through 2040.7 FOX49 also reported that the 2023 plan anticipated using the $20 million loan and that “Blueprint now says that loan is no longer expected to be available after changes to the state program,” and that the agency projects lower future sales-tax collections because of changes in state law.8,9 What the earlier coverage did not include is the dated 2025 record: Blueprint’s own budget agenda named the Moving Florida Forward redirect more than a year before the board item removed the loan.1,5 WCTV reported that the board “unanimously voted to make their decision on what to do with the Tharpe Street Project and the Airport Gateway Project after they verify the information they received at the meeting in their next meeting.”10

The September 2026 board item states that the project carries a cost estimate of $62.3 million.11 It states that “the $9.5 million allocated to the project remains committed to it” and that “the $52.8 million balance is to be funded from grant awards and from sales surtax revenues in the later years of the program.”12

Blueprint’s May 11, 2023 budget workshop document had programmed the loan as a funding source, stating: “One additional SIB Loan of $20 million is planned for FY 2030 to fund the road construction of the Northwest Connector: Tharpe Street.”3,2 The same 2023 document stated that construction “has been accelerated by approximately seven years to FY 2030 and is fully funded at the reduced project cost estimate of $49.5 million, as approved by the IA Board at the March 9, 2023 meeting.”13,14 That was a projection against forecast program revenues, not money in hand: FOX49 reported that Blueprint’s agenda materials showed the re-scoped project as fully funded within projected program revenues, and that “did not mean $49.5 million was sitting in an account waiting to be spent.”15 Blueprint is a joint City of Tallahassee and Leon County agency, and the project is funded from the countywide sales surtax program.16,12

The project being priced at $62.3 million is the scaled-back one: the PD&E Study’s preferred alternative “consists of a two-lane undivided roadway with curb and gutter,” the reduced scope the board adopted in March 2023.17,18 The board item says that re-scoping, “delivering the corridor’s pedestrian safety, drainage, and operational needs without the four-lane widening — reduced the project’s estimated cost from $68.8 million to $49.5 million and is the action that moved the project’s planned construction from FY 2037 ... to FY 2030.”18,19 The $62.3 million estimate is within about $6.5 million of the $68.8 million figure carried for the four-lane widening the board dropped, though the two rest on different bases: the board item says the earlier estimate “was a planning-level figure based on generalized costs” that the PD&E Study replaced “with an estimate based on a selected ... alternative,” and that design, right-of-way appraisals and construction bids will each replace assumptions with actual figures.20,21 The records reviewed do not break out what else changed in scope.17,21

Blueprint’s board item gives two reasons for the gap.22,6 First, it states, “the 2026 PD&E Study replaced the $49.5 million planning-level estimate with a project estimate of $62.3 million.”22 Second, it states that SIB funding available to local governments “has been substantially reduced” and the $20 million loan “has therefore been removed from the long-range funding plan.”6 FOX49 reported a third driver: the agency projects lower future sales-tax collections because of changes in state law.8

Blueprint Director Autumn Calder told FOX49 by email that the 2023 plan was a long-range projection and that the agency funds projects in phases as they advance.23 FOX49 reported that she cited the updated study in her response but did not provide a detailed breakdown of what specifically accounts for the roughly $13 million increase.24

Records show Blueprint applied for a $2.5 million USDOT BUILD grant for design funding in February 2026 and submitted a $20.1 million Safe Streets and Roads for All application in May 2026 for design and construction of the first phase from Ocala Road to Mission Road.25 A March 12, 2026 Blueprint meeting record states the project is moving into the design phase.26 Blueprint’s May 8, 2025 agenda states that a planned $83 million bond in FY 2026 would support “funding for the next phases of the Northwest Connector: Tharpe Street project, including sidewalk construction and roadway design from Ocala Road to Mission Road.”27 Blueprint’s project page says staff “are seeking leveraging opportunities to advance the project.”28

Method: this story is based on four dated Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency records — the May 11, 2023 budget workshop item, the May 8, 2025 budget workshop agenda, the March 12, 2026 board meeting record, and Item #6 on the September 24, 2026 board agenda — plus Blueprint’s project page and FOX49’s and WCTV’s reporting.29,1,30,4,16,7,31 The $52.8 million figure is stated in the September 2026 board item as the balance remaining after the $9.5 million allocated, and FOX49 reported it as the need through 2040; the roughly $13 million increase is the difference between the $49.5 million planning-level estimate adopted March 9, 2023 and the $62.3 million PD&E Study estimate, and the two figures rest on different estimate bases.12,7,22,21 The approximately 16-month interval is the gap between the May 8, 2025 budget agenda naming the Moving Florida Forward redirect and the September 24, 2026 board item removing the loan.1,4,5

The board’s decision on Tharpe Street and the Airport Gateway project is still ahead: WCTV reported commissioners voted unanimously to decide at their next meeting after verifying the information presented, and FOX49 reported they voted to have staff study changing current project priorities, including shifting future money associated with part of Airport Gateway toward Tharpe.10,32 The Clanker Times did not contact the City of Tallahassee or the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency for this story.4