SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. — A new law signed this week by Gov. Ron DeSantis is raising concerns among local governments across Florida, including in Safety Harbor, where city leaders say it could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars less in revenue and difficult decisions about future services.
The legislation, which took effect immediately, limits how local governments calculate the maximum property tax millage rate they can adopt. Specifically, cities and counties can no longer use increases in per capita personal income when determining the maximum millage rate allowed under state law.
DeSantis said the measure is designed to help homeowners by slowing the growth of local property taxes.
“If affordability is something we want to address, put the money back into the pocket of the property taxpayer, the homeowner,” DeSantis said. “That’s where you can do a lot of difference.”
Safety Harbor Mayor Joe Ayoub said the change came as a surprise and creates another financial challenge as cities face rising costs.
“My immediate thought was very concerned because we are already facing cutbacks from what could be property tax reform,” Ayoub said.
City leaders say while revenues could be capped, expenses continue to climb.
“Our public safety is going up. Our contract with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is going up. Health insurance, liability insurance, the cost to pave roads, maintain parks, replace equipment, repair equipment — all this stuff is going up,” Ayoub said. “So if our revenue is not matching our expenses going up, we’re not left with many choices other than to cut back on the services we provide our residents.”
According to Ayoub, the city could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Last year, if we had done this, it would have been $600,000,” he said. “So it could be $600,000 to $700,000 in the coming fiscal year budget that we are working on right now.”
Safety Harbor City Manager Josh Stefancic said staff will now have to recalculate the city’s 2027 budget under the new requirements.
“The budget will be based on what is called a rollback rate,” Stefancic said. “Essentially, it’s the amount of total money the city brought in this year that we would expect to get next year.”
Under the law, local governments can still adopt a property tax rate up to 10% above the rollback rate, but doing so requires approval from two-thirds of the governing board.
For Safety Harbor officials, that means evaluating spending priorities while trying to maintain the services residents expect.
City leaders say the coming months will likely involve difficult budget discussions as they work to balance rising costs with new limits on property tax revenue.