dire warning<\/a> that some smaller cities might not survive the hit.<\/p>\nLocal services will be threatened, everything from street cleaning to park maintenance.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll those things that people like about small communities, quite often the reason why they move to small communities is because they like that small-town feel,\u201d Jacks said. \u201cThere won\u2019t be any funds for them for those things anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for property owners, they will still see some savings, but not as much as they would under the previous plan that included an exemption on school taxes, according to an analysis by Broward Property Appraiser Marty Kiar.<\/p>\n
In Broward, the average savings under the new plan would come to $1,325 in the first year and $2,661 in the second, Kiar\u2019s analysis shows.<\/p>\n
But under the old plan, the average savings was $2,146 in the first year and $4,129 in the second.<\/p>\n
The current plan calls for future exemption increases to be linked to inflation in subsequent years.<\/p>\n
Kiar\u2019s analysis includes a look at what homeowners stand to save with the full elimination of ad valorem taxes for homesteaded properties.<\/p>\n
Under the new plan, the average savings comes to $3,448. Under the old, it would be $5,278.<\/p>\n
Homeowners who establish residency in Florida after Jan. 1, 2027, would be required to live in the home for five years before they can claim the expanded exemption.<\/p>\n
Broward County stands to lose $195 million in the first year, or 10.8% of its property revenues, Kiar\u2019s analysis shows. In the second year, the losses would increase to $333.8 million, or 18.5%<\/p>\n
Hollywood would lose $20.3 million in the first year (9.3% of its property tax revenue). The loss would jump to $33.9 million in the second year, or 15.6%.<\/p>\n
Tamarac would lose $10.8 million (22% of its property tax revenue) and $16.5 million in the second year (34% of its property tax revenue).<\/p>\n
Pembroke Pines would lose $20.7 million in the first year (17.5% of its property tax revenue) and $36 million in the second (30% of its property tax revenue).<\/p>\n
Kiar\u2019s analysis also showed the impact on school taxes under the old plan.<\/p>\n
Schools would be taking a big hit too, but legislators altered the plan to protect them from what would have been severe tax cuts.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a look at the impact on schools in Broward if legislators had stuck to the old plan.<\/p>\n
With a $150,000 exemption, the Broward School District would lose $293.8 million, or 13.1% of its property tax revenues.<\/p>\n
With a $250,000 exemption, schools would lose $455.2 million, or 20.2% in property tax revenues.<\/p>\n
With a full exemption for homesteaded properties, schools would lose $803.6 million, or 35.7% of their property tax revenues.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchools take up about 30% of the tax bill,\u201d Kiar told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. \u201cIt\u2019s a significant amount of the tax bill. Because they were exempted, it would decrease the amount you would save.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiar says he is not taking a stance on the property tax cuts, but wants to make sure everyone has all the information they need to help them decide how they want to vote come November.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the one area where I have a lot of information to provide to the public,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I just feel if I took a stance on it, the only people who will listen are the people who agree with me. I just want to make sure people have all the information in the most non-biased manner. I wanted to give them the numbers, both the savings to the homeowners and the fiscal impact as it pertains to the taxing authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacks, Palm Beach County\u2019s property appraiser, has made it clear what she thinks of the property tax cuts.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, Jacks warned county commissioners about how the cuts could particularly impact smaller municipalities \u2014 so much so they could face dissolution. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame that (local) government is the government that is being targeted,\u201d Jacks told commissioners.<\/p>\n
Before the Legislature approved the measure going before voters, Jacks\u2019 office put together projected exemption revenue losses for each municipality. Many cities stand to lose millions.<\/p>\n
Based on the 2025 tax roll, the city of West Palm Beach, for example, could lose more than $22 million in 2027 and then nearly $31.8 million in 2028, Jacks\u2019 office projected.<\/p>\n
Boynton Beach, which is particularly vulnerable because it has the highest number of homesteaded properties valued at less than $250,000, could lose nearly $17 million in 2027 and about $22.7 million in 2028.<\/p>\n
Palm Beach County as a whole could lose about $324 million in 2028, which would cut right into the $609 million budget used for 30 departments.<\/p>\n
Even with the safeguards put in place for schools, Jacks said the projected losses won\u2019t change significantly. But residents\u2019 bills will.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe important point is it\u2019s not an elimination of property tax if you\u2019re still going to pay school tax,\u201d Jacks told the Sun Sentinel. \u201cThis was sold as an elimination of property tax. And in fact, you\u2019ll still continue to pay school tax, which for most people is the largest millage rate you pay amongst all the millages you pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though larger cities could lose more money, Jacks said smaller cities \u2014 Haverhill, Juno Beach, Lake Clarke Shores, Tequesta, South Palm Beach, for example \u2014 are more vulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWest Palm Beach has certainly lots of residential communities, but it also has a downtown and it has a lot of strip centers and it has a lot of office buildings and it has a very good mix of property types,\u201d Jacks said. \u201cBut if you have a nice bedroom community, as I call them, of primarily single-family homes and you don\u2019t have a lot of other property types, then if an impact comes from the voters at this point that says, \u2018OK, single-family homes that have long-term Florida residents in them are going to get an additional benefit,\u2019 then those smaller incorporated towns and villages are not going to have anywhere to go. They\u2019re not going to have any other revenue source.\u201d<\/p>\n
During a public meeting Wednesday evening to discuss the Agricultural Reserve at the Palm Beach County Canyon Branch Library in west Boynton, County Administrator Joseph Abruzzo explained the possible challenge of operating the county at full service without hundreds of millions of tax dollars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis property tax initiative will change county government, local government, as you know it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Many residents spoke during public comment to complain about the county\u2019s traffic and deficient infrastructure, issues that Abruzzo said only will worsen without property taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will be back, very upset, that things are lacking, that there\u2019s weeds in the median, that we\u2019re not upkeeping, and I don\u2019t want to sit here and say, \u2018Call the governor,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s on the ballot may save us, including me, personal money, but it\u2019s not going to benefit services, roads.\u201d<\/p>\n
During a recent news conference in Tampa, DeSantis said\u00a0Palm Beach County is \u201csitting on a gold mine. \u2026 They\u2019re (homeowners are) there three months of the year, and they buy $25 million homes. So that should be your tax base.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacks said that despite its affluent reputation, Palm Beach County has plenty of people who are \u201cworking class, professional class and poor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are wealthy properties in every county in Florida,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe ours get a little bit more attention, especially these days. This is a county of working people who are just going about their day-to-day lives, same as we would be if we were in Broward or in Miami Dade or in Tampa or Orlando.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fear is real when it comes to Florida\u2019s looming property tax cuts \u2014 but so is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[506,28,30,29,249,114,266,557,109],"class_list":["post-298424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-broward-county","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-palm-beach-county","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}