Around the web: A roundup featuring comments from tampabay.com. The comments included here are occasionally edited for length but otherwise largely appear as they did on the article or column online.
On a guest column about proposed property tax cuts and the American Dream.
This amendment has nothing to do with homeownership. All it will do is cripple the budgets of local governments, making them less able to maintain safe and livable communities for all of their residents. Even though I would personally benefit slightly from this property tax cut, I am fully against the proposal. — D. B.
I wish the sheriff, fire, county would show us proposed cuts to personnel on paper before the vote. They won’t. They think they’re immune. They will cut the less important jobs first. That won’t cover it. Everyone’s in denial. —G. Sugent
No cuts when local property tax revenue has increased over 70% in a few years, over twice the rate of inflation and demand on services. Ask to see your county’s annual tax revenue figures over the last 6 years. Services and infrastructure can now be sped up with better local funding even after this passes. — J. B.
I’ve looked at our local St. Petersburg budget. There is not much fat there and certainly getting rid of that little fat won’t even come close to making up for revenue losses. Please let us know where the fat is so that we can all pressure our local city council to cut it. — R. Scoggins
Everything has a price tag, and this amendment’s price tag is way too high and goes way too far in limiting local options and local control. We decentralized government in Florida a long time ago to make it more responsive and accountable; now we’re giving that back to Tallahassee, which doesn’t make sense. There are other simpler ways to impact housing costs. — S. Commenter
Cut the sales tax where Tallahassee gets its funding for its boondoggle projects. Giving them more control is utter nonsense. —M. Cook