Senate OKs property tax plan
House’s proposal would let voters decide on extra exemption
TALLAHASSEE — Florida homeowners will likely get the chance to vote next year on whether to cut their property taxes by an average of about $275 a year.
The Senate on Monday approved HJR 7105, which would put on the 2018 ballot an additional $25,000 homestead exemption. The plan is a top priority of House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, so it is almost certain to pass his chamber this week. Voters would have to approve it with 60 percent of the vote for it to take effect in 2019.
The bill is part of a broad deal on the $83 billion budget between Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, who this week agreed to environmental projects and higher education funding.
Other budget areas such as health care remain unresolved, however, as lawmakers face today’s deadline to finish the budget and meet the required three-day “cooling off” period before they vote on it so they can adjourn on time Friday.
Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriation Committee severely scaled back a nearly $300 million House
tax-cut package to provide just $75 million to $80 million in breaks. They would include a three-day back-toschool tax holiday, the same as last year.
Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, sponsor of the property tax-cut bill approved by a 29-10 vote, said it would save the average homeowner about $275 per year, based on the statewide average home value of $220,000 and the average tax rate of 10 mills ($10 for every $1,000 of taxable property value).
The vote was largely partisan, with Democrats opposed and Republicans in favor, although six Democrats, including Linda Stewart of Orlando, voted in favor. One Republican, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, voted no.
Opponents said the proposal would overburden local governments, whose revenues are still recovering from the Great Recession. Some Democrats also said the cuts would go to more well-off property owners, leaving lower-income renters to take on more of the tax burden.
Republicans, however, said that providing tax relief was important as home values continue to climb and that voters are savvy enough to make their own decisions. Lee said the cuts would spur growth that would soften the effects of projected lost revenues on local governments.
“I think you’re going to see construction growth, and I think you’re going to see people moving in from rentals into homes,” Lee said.
Governments in Central Florida are already fretting about the potential impact of the cuts.
Orange County’s legislative affairs director estimates the bigger exemption would cost the county $23 million in revenue a year.
There would be a reduction of about $15 million in the general fund for services such as the jail, the Lynx bus system and animal services, the county estimated. Fire Rescue would see a reduction of $4.5 million a year, and the Sheriff’s Office would lose $3.6 million a year.
The increased exemption would cost Orlando’s city coffers about $3.5 million, based on 2017 property values, according to Cassandra Lafser, spokeswoman for Mayor Buddy Dyer. That would be about 2.2 percent of the roughly $160 million in property tax the city budgeted for this year.
“Property taxes are the primary funding source for city governments, and a reduction in collections limits our ability to provide services to our residents and businesses,” Lafser said. She added that the loss of revenue would “continue to grow as our population grows and homeowner exemptions grow.”
According to the Florida Association of Counties, the measure would cost Lake County governments $10.2 million a year; Osceola County governments $5.15 million per year; and Seminole County governments $13.7 million per year, based on 2016 property values.
A separate bill passed by the Senate on Monday, HB 7107, gives money back to 29 “fiscally constrained counties,” whose budgets would be stretched by the additional homestead exemptions. The counties are made up of landlocked South Florida and Panhandle counties.