Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia had a message for South Florida voters Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t believe the hype from \u201cbig government apologists\u201d who claim cities and counties won\u2019t be able to afford core government services if Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 revamped property tax package<\/a> is approved by 60% of the voters in November.<\/p>\n Ingoglia, appointed CFO by DeSantis, has been making the case for months that local governments have engaged in wasteful spending for the last five years, creating the premise that cities and counties can absorb the financial hit that would come their way if the package passes.<\/p>\n Appearing at the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue\u2019s Urban Search and Rescue Training Facility, Ingoglia focused his remarks on the property tax package the Legislature passed Tuesday<\/a> and its effects on funding public safety.<\/p>\n \u201cScare tactics\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing I would say is, you\u2019re going to hear a lot of scare tactics and misinformation coming out from a lot of different places in this fight,\u201d he told reporters in Miami.<\/p>\n The ballot summary language in HJR 1F reads<\/a>, \u201cSave Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n The ballot summary continues: \u201cThis amendment benefits Florida taxpayers by exempting homestead properties from taxation.\u201d It goes on to advise voters that the proposal would exempt the first $250,000 of a homestead\u2019s value from taxation and would require, through general law, \u201ca schedule for full elimination.\u201d<\/p>\n Ingoglia said that government\u2019s first role is to protect the public, which is why the \u201cfirst thing\u201d that every local government should do if the proposal passes is to fund the police, firefighters, and other first responders.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, when I hear the misinformation and the talking points coming out from the big government apologists that say that they have to cut fire and they have to cut police, what they are saying is that that\u2019s the last thing that they\u2019re thinking about in the hierarchy of how they build their budgets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Tampa City Councilmember Luis Viera, a Democrat, is running for the state House of Representatives, hoping to fill the Hillsborough County seat now held by House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell.<\/p>\n In his time on the council, Viera has been a strong advocate<\/a> for pay increases for the Tampa Police Department and for securing funding for new fire stations.<\/p>\n He says that if the constitutional amendment is passed in November, \u201cWe\u2019re going to see significant change in revenue for police and fire with this.\u201d<\/p>\n Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said last year<\/a> that \u201cevery dollar of Tampa\u2019s $380 million in property tax revenue is allocated to police and fire services,\u201d and that the city\u2019s total expenditures on public safety exceeded $455 million \u2014 well more than all of the revenue collected from property taxes.<\/p>\n No \u201ctrust fund\u201d for public safety or schools<\/p>\n During the regular 2026 legislative session, the Florida House of Representatives passed its own property tax reduction plan (HJR 203<\/a>). That proposal would have banned local governments from reducing funding for law enforcement below what had been appropriated for the services over the past two years. However, the Senate never considered the measure, or any other property tax relief bill, and it died.<\/p>\n DeSantis\u2019 original tax proposal unveiled last week would have created in the Florida Constitution a local government trust fund so the state could help some municipalities pay for essential core services, including public safety and schools. But there was no dedicated source of revenue to finance the trust fund and the Republican-led Legislature eliminated it from the property tax plan.<\/p>\n Ingoglia didn\u2019t mention the deleted trust fund during his South Florida press conference, ostensibly called to discuss hurricane preparedness. Instead, the CFO accused local government officials who claim public safety will need to be cut of bad governing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I hear the misinformation and the talking points coming out from the big government apologists that say that they have to cut fire and they have to cut police, what they\u2019re saying is, that that\u2019s the last thing that they\u2019re thinking about,\u201d Ingoglia said. \u201cThat is the exact opposite of what they should be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n The silence is deafening<\/p>\n Although Florida firefighters and emergency services responders spoke against the tax proposal in House and Senate committee this week, the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) and the Florida Police Chiefs Association have remained quiet. The Florida Police Chiefs Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Sheriff\u2019s Association affirmed to the Phoenix that it still had not taken a position on the proposal.<\/p>\n The Florida Chamber of Commerce said in a written statement last week that it would review the proposal with its members.<\/p>\n Another major representative of the business community, Associated Industries of Florida, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n NFIB of Florida, representing small businesses, said in a statement on its website<\/a> that it had not taken a position but had called for protections that would prohibit local governments from increasing taxes on commercial property to accommodate for lost revenues. Those protections were included in what was passed.<\/p>\n \u201cNFIB has NOT taken a position on the overall proposal, but we will be balloting our membership on the amendment if it is passed by the Legislature,\u201d the website notes.<\/p>\n Although DeSantis and Ingoglia have been talking about reducing property taxes for more than a year, the framework for DeSantis\u2019 plan wasn\u2019t shared with legislators until last week. It was approved in Special Session F after just two days of debate this week.<\/p>\n To say the proposal was rushed through the Legislature and not sufficiently vetted is \u201cquite the understatement,\u201d Viera said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest issue that I think is going to worry people is public safety and first responders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you know, in my nine-and-a-half years on city council, I\u2019ve always been a big champion of police and fire, and that includes on a lot of hard votes with cops and with fire, where I stand by them on a lot of different issues, and I think that, for me, supporting cops and firefighters is about more than showing up and giving them donuts on Christmas. It\u2019s about taking hard votes and asking voters to fund those services that are tax dollars. If we pass this, this is going to be a major, major burden on basic police and fire services in Tampa.\u201d<\/p>\n To watch the entire press conference\u00a0Miami-Dade Urban Search and Rescue Training Center in Miami, click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n