Gov. Charlie Crist said Monday he will push for more property-tax relief in the 2009 legislative session, despite complaints from city and county governments that say they are already hurting from past cuts.
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The governor will have the backing of two key state legislators who hold powerful posts in the House and Senate and are in line to take over those chambers next year.
In addition to the 2009-10 budget he will announce late this week, Crist is working on possibly four proposals to hold down property taxes. They would limit city and county tax collections to the rate of inflation plus population growth, limit assessments on business and other non-homestead properties to 5 percent a year, give first-time homebuyers a 50-percent exemption up to $500,000 and forbid increases in home assessments when a home’s value declines.
“I think we can always do more for the people. I hear from them every day about the fact that they’re still frustrated with property taxes,” Crist said. “There have been some reductions but I think, as we all known and recognize, the people are hurting out there — all of us are — and they deserve to have more of their hard-earned money in their pockets.”
Crist championed Amendment 1, a tax-cut proposal voters approved in the Jan. 29, 2008, presidential primary.
With the economy tanking — a downward spiral led by construction activity and home prices — city and county governments and school boards across the state have been cutting services and slashing budgets.
“We encouraged him not to put it on the table for this particular year. We thought we passed a lot of the stuff that he wanted last year,” said John Wayne Smith, legislative director for the Florida Association of Counties. “With the way the economy is, we ought to take a timeout to see what the impact of what we’ve already done is going to do before we do more.”
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FAC President Rodney J. Long said local governments have cut budgets 9.3 percent over the past three years, resulting in loss of services, construction cutbacks and lost jobs.
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State Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said he and Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, have long supported the idea of capping local government income at the rate of population growth plus inflation.
Both men are designated to become presiding officers in their chambers at the end of next year, which makes them enormously powerful in this session.
Haridopolos said he and Cannon would like to include state government in the spending cap, not just local agencies. He also said the proposal would allow a referendum, so cities and counties could exceed the spending caps if they had a great opportunity or pressing need for more revenue.
“We should not be hypocritical and say the counties and cities should be doing this and not us,” Haridopolos said.
Cannon said he is enthusiastic about continuing the property-tax work began last year.
The proposals are still being drafted and are expected to be introduced days before the session convenes March 3.
Source: tallahassee.com
