CITIZENS TELL LEGISLATORS: LOWER OUR PROPERTY TAXES

And next on the agenda for the Florida legislators would appear to be curbing the escalation of our property taxes. Over the last few years, property taxes have soared to stratospheric heights, creating another hurdle for Florida homeowners. And the voices being heard in the following article include homesteaded residents who benefit from $25,000 annual homestead deduction and are limited by the "Save Our Homes Act" that caps annual property tax increases to a maximum of 3%. This article also makes mention of the tax burden being weighed upon the "rental" owners who enjoy neither of the previously mentioned tax benefits and are subject to the ad valorem taxes doled out by the local county tax assessors. And these increases have been significant over the past 3 years. I only hope the powers that be in Tallahassee recognize the impact that non-homesteaded Florida homeowners have upon the overall economic picture of the State and will address this issue for the benefit of ALL property owners. Here's the latest...

PANAMA CITY - Taxpayers lined up Thursday night to unload their horror stories for about a dozen state legislators - and did they ever. But amid all the anger and dismay emerged a chorus of ideas for dealing with the problem pervading the state: skyrocketing property tax rates.

Sen. Don Gaetz, a Republican from Niceville, hosted a three-hour forum at Gulf Coast Community College as the first leg of a statewide "tax tour" featuring a panel of legislative leaders on both sides of the political aisles and from both branches of government. Local property taxes overall for the state have increased by 83 percent since 2001. The meetings are intended to collect suggestions from citizens and property owners about how to fix the problem in the 2007 legislative session or possibly via a special election. In Panama City, Gaetz and company got their wish, with an overflowing crowd.

South Walton resident Emmett Hildreth said he would like to see a cap on property taxation tied to population growth and inflation. "One great American said, 'The power to tax is the power to destroy,'" Hildreth said, referring to a phrase written in 1819 by former Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall. "I think what we?re seeing in Florida today is destruction," Hildreth said. "We're in a crisis, and this problem needs fixing. It's up to the Legislature to lead the way."

Doubling the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000 would not help, Bay County resident Mike Cazunas said. Currently, Floridians are permitted to take off $25,000 from the taxable value of their primary residence, and the taxable value of the homestead may rise by only 3 percent each year. But rental units and businesses still are subject to oftenegregious increases, Cazunas said, creating inequity in the tax laws. "Whether it's a cap on spending or a cap on all properties, it is the same thing; you need to get the equity back in there," he said. Among other ideas, speakers encouraged state and local government officials to curb unnecessary spending, add exemptions for military veterans, adjust Panama City Beach's bed tax and the gasoline tax, and adjust the state's formula for education spending.

Elected officials weighed in on the problem. In Bay County, County Commission Chairman Mike Nelson said, the millage rate has not been raised since 1990 and this year was cut by 2.75 mills, reducing revenue projections by some $28 million for last year. Changes in property valuations since then showed another $5.3 million drop in projected revenues. "In many instances, property values increased so much that if the county took our millage to zero, property taxes still would have risen by sometimes 100 to 200 percent," Nelson said. County Commissioner George Gainer said the St. Joe Co., the county's largest landowner, should be paying more in property taxes, and he added the state needs to get a grip on the number of community redevelopment agencies, or CRAs, that are being created. A CRA is an area in which property tax increases over time are funneled back into that area for aesthetic or infrastructure improvements there. Gainer said Bay County recently cut a check to the Panama City Beach CRA for $12 million. "It makes it hard to cap spending if you keep allowing all these CRAs to pop up all over the place," Gainer said .