Property tax overhaul has mixed results

Changes could help homeowners, but leave $1.4B hole in municipal budgets The most comprehensive analysis to date of the impact of proposals to overhaul Florida property taxes shows the dramatic and far-reaching impacts the plans would have in Broward County. Individual Broward homeowners could see thousands of dollars in savings a year. But the cumulative effect of those tax reductions on homes and condos could add up to the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars, or more, to the county government and Broward’s cities, towns and villages. If that money isn’t made up in some way, local leaders warn that the services homeowners want, and need, could be decimated. The property tax plans under consideration in Tallahassee include only the proposed cuts, and don’t say anything about how to make up the lost revenue, which would total billions of dollars a year statewide. In Broward County alone, the most talked about property tax proposal would reduce income to local governments by more than$1.4 billion in the first year, said Broward Property Appraiser Marty Kiar. A state estimate put the statewide total at$14.1 billion in the first year. “When you vote to put something on the ballot, it’s going to be one of the most consequential votes you’ll ever take,”Kiar told senators and representatives at a recent Broward Legislative Delegation hearing. “It’s going to be so far reaching.” Kiar knows the implications better than most. Serving in his third term as the countywide elected property appraiser, he’s also a former Broward County commissioner, and a former state representative. He prepared the analysis of the impact on Broward, for individual property owners and for local governments. The size of the reductions may sound good to individuals, but that doesn’t mean they’re the right thing to do, said Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa. “Lowering taxes, that sounds great. But the reality is, you know, if you were to offer me candy for dinner, I might say yes. But that’s not the best thing for me. I need some protein. I need some balanced carbs. I need some vegetables, and that’s the situation that we have here,” Driskell told reporters Thursday after a lengthy property tax hearing in the Capitol. “We have the governor and the Legislature throwing out these proposals that would be the equivalent of something that sounds good but has the unintended consequence of truly harming our communities,” Driskell said. https://enewspaper.sun-sentinel.com/shortcode/SUN315/edition/ee344b26-1163-4e81-9041-a526b09281c5?page=b9ab6d64-1714-4a15-8235-4e4f02dfee7f&