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Credit: Gov. Ron DeSantis\/X<\/p>\nCredit: Gov. Ron DeSantis\/X<\/p>\n
Florida voters will be asked to sharply curtail the property taxes cities and counties rely upon under a far-reaching resolution championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and approved Tuesday by a supermajority of the Florida Legislature.<\/p>\n
The proposed constitutional amendment must get a \u201cyes\u201d vote from 60% of voters in the November elections to become law. Republicans who backed the resolution argued homeowners need relief from rising tax bills.<\/p>\n
But before sending it to voters, the Legislature overhauled the governor\u2019s proposal so that it would not apply to the property taxes used to fund Florida\u2019s public school system.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Designate Sam Garrison, in line to take the reins of that chamber in November, spearheaded exempting public schools from the governor\u2019s plan in the House. Sen. Jay Trumbull, in line to be Senate president in two years, led the charge in the Senate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following the supermajority vote, DeSantis \u2014 known for lengthy press conferences that focus on his \u201caccomplishments\u201d and a strong social media presence \u2014 was uncharacteristically quiet.<\/p>\n
DeSantis on Monday doubled down on his support for limiting property taxes for schools, saying the state has \u201cincreased funding every year for them\u201d and that some districts, despite experiencing declines in student population, have seen \u201cmassive\u201d increases in funding.<\/p>\n
Initially, the governor\u2019s proposal would have authorized property tax dollars to be spent only in a handful of areas:<\/p>\n
Education and public schools;\u00a0<\/p>\n
Public safety;\u00a0<\/p>\n
Infrastructure, including road and bridge construction and maintenance and stormwater control;\u00a0<\/p>\n
Natural resource projects, including flood control;\u00a0<\/p>\n
Issuing bonds and to make debt service payments for existing obligations; and retirement benefits of local government employees.<\/p>\n
A second change the Legislature made to DeSantis\u2019 plan requires property taxes also continue to be spent on supervisors of elections, property tax appraisers, and other constitutionally required local government officials, as well as \u201cthe expenditures approved by such county officers or county or municipal governing bodies, except those expenditures prohibited by general law.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The language regarding municipal governing bodies was included by the Senate sponsor, Miami Springs Republican Sen. Bryan Avila, who said he wanted to ensure the continued flow of intergovernmental transfers, or IGTs, to help fund two Medicaid supplemental programs: Low Income Pool and Hospital Directed Payments.<\/p>\n
Specifically, the language was included to help the Public Health Trust, the governing body of Jackson Health System. The trus acts on behalf of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners.<\/p>\n
Despite the changes, though,\u00a0the plan continues to face opposition from a disparate cohort of interest groups ranging from the Florida Association of Counties to the Florida Policy Institute.<\/p>\n
The counties sent an email to association members following the vote, highlighting the changes made and noting that Tuesday\u2019s vote\u00a0was \u201cnot the end of the conversation, but the beginning of a new one.\u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cCounty leaders should begin talking publicly about what local property taxes fund in their communities and what is at stake if those dollars go away,\u201d the email reads.<\/p>\n
\u201cFloridians benefit from the services property taxes fund, and they deserve a clear-eyed accounting of what this proposal does and does not do, from the people who deliver those services every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nonpartisan, not-for-profit Florida Policy Institute\u00a0dedicates itself to \u201cadvancing policies and budgets that improve the economic mobility and quality of life for all Floridians,\u201d according to its website. Following the vote, the association put out a statement saying the proposal doesn\u2019t represent a tax reduction but a tax shift.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne that will force local lawmakers to cut local services that families rely upon or increase other taxes and fees to make up for the missing revenue,\u201d Institute CEO Sadaf Knight said in a prepared statement. \u201cIn either case, everyday Floridians\u00a0ultimately pay the price for the massive loss in property tax revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reluctance in the Senate<\/p>\n
Even some of the legislators who ended up voting \u201cyes\u201d worried what would become of the state if 60% of the voters support it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New Smyrna Beach Republican Sen. Tom Wright on Monday said he would \u201chave a hard time voting for this\u201d unless changes were made. \u201cThere are so many, so many issues of this bill right now that scare the bejeebers out of me,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wright began his comments Tuesday noting, \u201cNo one has called me in regards to those other than to say, \u2018Good job,\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
His tone then shifted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really concerned, driving up here \u2026 and I was prepared to kill this bill. When I first read it I thought, \u2018This is crazy,\u2019 but the more I think about it \u2026 somebody did something, and that was our governor. He did something that we can at least take a look at,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not let the voters vote?\u201d Wright continued, adding that the Senate shouldn\u2019t take the opportunity away from Floridians.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t the only senator to say Tuesday that their end goal was to give the voters the ultimate choice even if the proposal wasn\u2019t one they fully supported.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m voting for this bill because we\u2019re giving the voters this opportunity to make the best decision for them, so that way we can provide some type of relief for the residents,\u201d said Mack Bernard, a Democrat from West Palm Beach.<\/p>\n
He said he believes the Legislature \u201cowes\u201d it to the public to allow voters to make the decision on whether the proposal should pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am supporting this bill and I hope that we can come back and make it better,\u201d Bernard said.<\/p>\n
Miramar Democratic Sen. Barbara Sharief said she was \u201cfully prepared\u201d to vote against the proposal but the decision to exempt schools from the property tax restrictions was a game changer for her. So was the decision to allow property taxes to be used to fund the supervisors of elections and other county-level positions required in the Florida Constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween the people who want me to vote \u2018no\u2019 and the people who want me to vote \u2018yes,\u2019 I feel like there\u2019s a voice that needs to be heard and they need to be able to go to the polls and express themselves,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so, while I have my opinion that this is not perfect and this is not all of what I want, I have learned a few things through this process, and that\u2019s that everything that we vote on is not going to be perfect,\u201d Sharief said.<\/p>\n
The Senate passed\u00a0HR1F<\/a>\u00a0by a\u00a030-9 vote\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n The mood in the House<\/p>\n The proposal passed the House by a\u00a075-26 vote\u00a0<\/a>with Republican Reps. Patt Maney of Shalimar and Nathan Boyles from Baker casting \u201cno\u201d votes. North Miami Democrat Rep. Dotie Joseph initially voted for the tax relief plan but changed her vote to \u201cno\u201d after the fact. More than a dozen House members didn\u2019t vote on the proposal.<\/p>\n House Speaker Daniel Perez relished putting the choice in voters\u2019 hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur constituents many times wish that they could have more of a say in government, just across the board. This is an important issue, it\u2019s property taxes, no one wants taxes. The details of how to come to a final product has been a long road, but I\u2019m proud of the opportunity that we are giving the voters by letting them decide if this is something that\u2019s going to come to fruition or not,\u201d Perez told reporters after the resolution passed.<\/p>\n House Democrats raised concern that the prospect of not paying property taxes could cloud the prospect of losing services funded by tax dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s my concern, is that this is not a tax break, this is a tax shift, and we tell the voters how much they might save and we don\u2019t explain to them what they\u2019re going to lose,\u201d Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from Orlando, said.<\/p>\n The House Democrats offered amendments to provide \u201cany funds necessary\u201d to local governments for services supporting public safety, children, and veterans. They were all voted down on party lines.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s not put local government in a straightjacket, let\u2019s not do that. Let\u2019s give them flexibility that they need to run the local government,\u201d Rep. Marie Woodson, a Democrat from Hollywood, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell said she welcomed the Legislature\u2019s willingness to differ from the governor\u2019s proposal by protecting property taxes that go toward schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt is really frightening to think that the Republicans were willing to play chicken with our public school system and to come so close to the wire that if that amendment hadn\u2019t passed, what would have happened to our school funding?\u201d Driskell, a Tampa Democrat, told reporters following the vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tThe CFO accused local government officials who claim public safety will need to be cut of bad governing\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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