TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

A Sigh Of Property Tax Relief

ADVERTISEMENT

By CATHERINE DOLINSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 30, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - The promise of property tax relief spurred more than enough votes on Tuesday to write Amendment 1 into the state Constitution.

By late Tuesday, more than 2.5 million voters - 64 percent of those who voted - approved the tax-cut plan that will essentially double the homestead exemption and make Save Our Homes tax protection portable for homesteaders who want to move to another primary residence. The measure needed 60 percent of the vote to become law.

"That's what I had hoped for, and that's good news," Gov. Charlie Crist told reporters in Miami once a majority of the vote was in.

The cost of the plan to local governments is estimated at $9.3 billion over five years, including $1.5 billion in tax revenue that would have gone to schools. Lawmakers have pledged not to harm education but have not yet identified a source of revenue to make up the amount schools will lose.

The success of the proposal is a colossal triumph for Crist, who campaigned aggressively for it for months and was predicting victory up to the last minute, in spite of recent polling that showed support was fading. As recently as Friday, a Mason-Dixon poll indicated approval for the plan hovering at 51 percent.

A gathering of about two dozen Realtors was jubilant Tuesday night as state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey and co-chairman of the Yes On 1 campaign, stepped to a microphone at the posh reception at The Vinoy in St. Petersburg.

"It was Republicans and Democrats and Independents that overwhelmingly said, 'We want relief and we want it now!' Sixty-four percent of the people are saying, 'Let's cut taxes,'" he said.

In an interview, Fasano said the wide margin of victory was unexpected but reinforces what he heard from voters across the state. "We always knew a majority of people wanted property tax relief. What we're seeing tonight is a supermajority of people want property tax relief."

Earlier in the evening, as the polls were near closing, Crist reiterated his pledge to keep pushing hard for more tax relief.

"When we get this passed," he told reporters, "we want to keep it going. We want to keep the momentum going because people continue to need property tax relief as well as insurance relief."

But Crist, who spoke during a brief stop at the Vinoy, stopped short of giving any specifics on where more relief might come from. "What we need to do is evaluate tonight and make sure we have a nice win this evening and then get with accountants and number crunchers and look at more options."

What Does It Mean To You?

Amendment 1 creates a second homestead exemption that will be worth $240 to $300 on average for primary homeowners, if local governments do not offset their losses by raising millage rates. The plan also allows homeowners desiring to move to apply their Save Our Homes tax benefit to new homesteads.

Businesses will receive a $25,000 break on tangible personal property, and annual rises in assessments for nonhomesteaded property will be capped at 10 percent.

In Hillsborough County, the amendment's passage will mean a reduction of $69 million to $75 million in property tax revenue in the next budget. The great unknown is the "portability" component because that depends on the desire of homesteaders to change residences.

Some of Hillsborough's losses will be offset by a $30million cushion the county commission and budget officials built into its budget in anticipation of future tax cuts. The losses would represent about 7 percent of the $801million in property taxes that Hillsborough County collected this year. Property taxes pay for a number of services, including the sheriff's office, fire department, code enforcement and parks and recreation.

Eric Johnson, the county's director of Management and Budget, described the effects as far reaching and a "permanent ratcheting down."

In Tampa, about $12 million less in property tax revenue will be collected for the city.

Last year, Tampa implemented a hiring freeze and laid off about 120 employees in response to mandatory property tax cuts that the Legislature wrote into law. The city also made service cuts, mainly affecting the parks department. Since then, the city created a task force to find ways to make government more efficient. Among the recommendations: privatizing security and janitorial services. In all, about 100 people could lose their jobs.

The amendment's passage likely will mean even more layoffs for Tampa. Mayor Pam Iorio said she is trying to find ways to scale back government without cutting services. She has no plans to lay off police officers and firefighters - in fact, she says she needs to increase staffing in the fire department - but the parks department again could bear the brunt of the cuts.

Iorio also said she has no intention of raising millage rates in response to a mandate from voters to cut taxes.

Many voters expressed confusion about the plan's details right through election day, despite heavy campaigning by the governor, his allies in the Republican party and a coalition of Realtors and other businesses.

Crist Held Sway With Voters

But comments from some who voted for the plan suggested that Crist's advocacy made the difference.

One such voter, lawyer Anne Dowling of St. Petersburg, pays $12,000 a year in property taxes and said she needs relief. Acknowledging that her yearly savings might probably reach only about $250, she said, "it's not going to help me at all, but Charlie Crist says it's a start."

Jo Ann Hicks, 68, a hairdresser from St. Petersburg, said she owns a condominium with her husband but isn't sure what they pay in property taxes.

Asked whether she voted for Amendment 1, Hicks, said that "our governor suggested it, and so I did."

Given the political capital Crist spent on raising money, appearing in advertisements and lobbying voters, the stakes of Amendment 1 could not have been higher for him, said Lance deHaven-Smith, a political scientist at Florida State University.

"He can claim a great deal of credit for this," deHaven-Smith said as the results came in. "He was almost alone, really, as the advocate and the person who carried this over the goal line. Not only did he show that he can deliver on his promise, he showed that he could overcome opposition to pass this. It's a big thing for Crist, politically, no doubt about it."

Looking Ahead

The largely union-based Florida Is Our Home coalition that opposed the amendment grew increasingly worried in the final weeks as the popular governor became the face of the pro-Amendment campaign, said Karen Woodall, chairwoman.

She continues to worry, she said, about the replacement of lost revenue for schools - and whether that money will come from underfunded health and social service programs. But she hopes, she said, that the debate - in the Legislature, the electorate and the state Taxation and Budget Reform Commission - over the current system will spur more comprehensive tax changes that will broaden the state's overall tax base.

"There is an opportunity for people to look at the sales tax system, at sports subsidies that go unquestioned," she said. "There can be positive outcomes from this."

House Speaker Marco Rubio issued a statement Tuesday night congratulating Crist on his efforts. But passage of Amendment 1 will make little difference in the campaign for "true" tax relief, he said in an interview earlier in the evening.

"Irrespective of what happens tonight, property taxes, high insurance costs and the high cost of energy are enormous problems," he said. "This doesn't excuse us from acting on these issues."

Rubio, who said he voted for the amendment, has nonetheless been a grudging supporter of the plan he maintains does not do enough. He has thrown his support behind a more dramatic $8 billion plan that would cap property taxes at 1.35 percent of a property's assessed value.

Reporters Gretchen Parker, Ellen Gedalius, Mike Salinero, Carlos Moncada and News Channel 8's Josh Thomas contributed to this report. Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or cdolinski@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT