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Property Tax Session In Limbo

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By JEROME R. STOCKFISCH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 25, 2007

Updated: 10/25/2007 12:22 am

TALLAHASSEE - Legislative leaders insist the game isn't over, but the special session on property taxes officially ground to a halt Wednesday with the Capitol clearing out and lawmakers waiting to hear whether they will return for Monday's scheduled final day.

Officially, the Senate is studying the impact of legislation passed out of the House on Monday. That examination is apparently going to take some time, with Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, telling his members - who had been sent home last Thursday - not to bother returning to the Capitol until Monday, if the upper chamber returns at all.

Following Pruitt's notice, House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, canceled a House session slated for today and sent his members home. His intent is to reconvene Monday morning.

The moves left some lawmakers confused, although Pruitt and Rubio said they would update their members.

'I'm not sure what's going on, and I normally do,' said Sen. Steven Geller of Hallandale Beach, the Democratic leader in the Senate.

The special session began with Pruitt, Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist indicating they were on the same page on an agreement to double the homestead exemption, make Save Our Homes valuation benefits portable when homeowners move, and provide first-time homebuyers a valuation discount.

The Senate last week passed out a bill reflecting those goals.

The House, however, decided to offer homeowners an across-the-board valuation discount totaling 40 percent of the median just value of the home county and a Save Our Homes-style valuation cap for businesses and nonhomestead residences of 5 percent. The House bill passed Monday.

Unlike other major provisions of House and Senate proposals, the 5 percent valuation cap does not exclude school districts from the resulting revenue cuts. Education spending has been a volatile issue, particularly in the Senate, where even mild cuts nearly derailed the package.

On Tuesday, legislative analysts put the cost of the House's valuation cap on schools at anywhere from $6 billion to $10 billion over the next 10 years. That would clearly alienate senators who already expressed dismay over the $1 billion in school cutbacks that would have result from that chamber's plan over four years.

Majority leader Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, and other key senators were digging deeper into the House plan on Wednesday. Geller, the Democratic leader, said House members voted out the package without understanding the consequences, and said the Senate 'is being extra cautious not to make the same mistake.'

The time-out didn't faze Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, the top House negotiator on property taxes.

'In the legislative world, three business days or five calendar days is a really long time,' he said. 'I continue to be grateful for and appreciative of the level of analysis and leadership that President Pruitt and Leader Webster are engaging in.'

'There Are No Do-Overs'

Geller raised the hypothetical issue of a gas station enjoying the new 5 percent valuation cap for many years, when a competitor sizes up a site across the street - and faces a significantly higher annual tax bill.

'Do they have to charge higher gas prices?' Geller asked. 'With Save Our Homes, sometimes people have problems selling their homes. If we do this, will people have problems selling their business? Relocating their business?

'I've got a lot of questions that I don't have answers to, because we've never studied this. We've never taken this to a committee, never heard testimony. There are no do-overs.'

With Crist providing his traditional optimism at an afternoon news conference and legislative leaders tight-lipped about the behind-the-scenes action, attention turned Wednesday to the wording of the memo Pruitt wrote to senators. 'We have not determined that the Senate will return,' he said, which seemed to suggest that pulling the plug on property tax changes was not out of the question. However, he also wrote, 'I believe we have reason to be cautiously optimistic.'

The special session is scheduled to end at 11:59 p.m. Monday. Legislative leaders could extend it, but they have until midnight the next day to provide ballot language to the Secretary of State's office in order for property tax changes to appear on the Jan. 29 primary election ballot.

High Court Takes Ballot Case

Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it would take up the issue of a previous tax package that was removed from the ballot in September. After lawmakers approved a homestead superexemption in June's special session, a judge ruled the ballot language going to voters was misleading and improper.

The Supreme Court said it would hear arguments Dec. 3 on the state's appeal of that ruling.

Reporter Jerome R. Stockfisch can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or jstockfisch@tampatrib.com.

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