\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOrlando City Council held a workshop Monday morning to discuss the potential impacts of a proposed constitutional amendment that would increase the homestead exemption and could lead to substantial revenue losses for local governments. To address the affordability crisis, Gov. Ron DeSantis is advocating for voters to approve a measure on November’s ballot, which would raise the current homestead exemption from $50,000 to $250,000, among other changes.Orlando officials say they want voters to be aware of the broader implications of the proposal. “All people hear is no taxation, less taxation. And so we’ve got to say like here’s where your dollars go to,” said City Commissioner Shaniqua Rose. During Monday’s meeting, Rose told city departments to make it clear to Orlando residents what their tax dollars are actually funding. “We’ve got to beat the negative news that says people’s tax dollars are going to waste. Right. And it’s really not. We’re really improving our communities,” Rose added. Orlando Chief Financial Officer Jose Fernandez explained that if the amendment passes, public safety, affordable housing, athletic field maintenance, park and playground renovations, sidewalk and trail maintenance, business incentive and assistance programs, along with a slew of other tax-funded services, could be impacted. He added that by fiscal year 2029, the city could face a revenue loss of $ 30 million to $35 million without a stable replacement. “We’re recommending that we establish and fund a property tax reform stabilization fund. The fund will be used to help fill the funding gap caused by the implementation of property tax reform,” Fernandez said. Fernandez also suggested implementing a hiring freeze to address the potential financial challenges. If approved, the legislation would require lawmakers to create a uniform procedure for cities and counties to increase the homestead exemption up to the remaining property value. “We know what’s going to happen in 28. We know what’s going to happen in 29. We don’t know what’s going to happen after that,” Fernandez said. Council members also raised questions about how the city should approach future projects in light of the potential changes. “Do we press the gas on those projects? Do we pump the brakes on those projects?” asked City Commissioner Roger Chapin. The proposed amendment requires 60% voter approval to pass. As discussions continue, city officials emphasized the importance of making voters aware of what all the amendments would do. “It is very important for us to educate, not advocate, but educate,” said City Commissioner Tony Ortiz.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Orlando City Council held a workshop Monday morning to discuss the potential impacts of a proposed constitutional amendment that would increase the homestead exemption and could lead to substantial revenue losses for local governments. <\/p>\n
To address the affordability crisis, Gov. Ron DeSantis is advocating for voters to approve a measure on November’s ballot, which would raise the current homestead exemption from $50,000 to $250,000, among other changes.<\/p>\n
Orlando officials say they want voters to be aware of the broader implications of the proposal. <\/p>\n
“All people hear is no taxation, less taxation. And so we’ve got to say like here’s where your dollars go to,” said City Commissioner Shaniqua Rose. <\/p>\n
During Monday’s meeting, Rose told city departments to make it clear to Orlando residents what their tax dollars are actually funding. <\/p>\n
“We’ve got to beat the negative news that says people’s tax dollars are going to waste. Right. And it’s really not. We’re really improving our communities,” Rose added. <\/p>\n
Orlando Chief Financial Officer Jose Fernandez explained that if the amendment passes, public safety, affordable housing, athletic field maintenance, park and playground renovations, sidewalk and trail maintenance, business incentive and assistance programs, along with a slew of other tax-funded services, could be impacted. <\/p>\n
He added that by fiscal year 2029, the city could face a revenue loss of $ 30 million to $35 million without a stable replacement. <\/p>\n
“We’re recommending that we establish and fund a property tax reform stabilization fund. The fund will be used to help fill the funding gap caused by the implementation of property tax reform,” Fernandez said. <\/p>\n
Fernandez also suggested implementing a hiring freeze to address the potential financial challenges. <\/p>\n
If approved, the legislation would require lawmakers to create a uniform procedure for cities and counties to increase the homestead exemption up to the remaining property value. <\/p>\n
“We know what’s going to happen in 28. We know what’s going to happen in 29. We don’t know what’s going to happen after that,” Fernandez said. <\/p>\n
Council members also raised questions about how the city should approach future projects in light of the potential changes. <\/p>\n
“Do we press the gas on those projects? Do we pump the brakes on those projects?” asked City Commissioner Roger Chapin. <\/p>\n
The proposed amendment requires 60% voter approval to pass. As discussions continue, city officials emphasized the importance of making voters aware of what all the amendments would do. <\/p>\n
“It is very important for us to educate, not advocate, but educate,” said City Commissioner Tony Ortiz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orlando City Council held a workshop Monday morning to discuss the potential impacts of a proposed constitutional amendment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139258,36936,25247,89403,139259,14559,139,141,140,52013,992,43090,90731,23704,139260,139261,63944,16663],"class_list":["post-338730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-city-department","tag-constitutional-amendment","tag-dollar","tag-fernandez","tag-future-project","tag-homestead-exemption","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-official","tag-people","tag-potential-impact","tag-property-tax-amendment","tag-rose","tag-substantial-revenue-loss","tag-taxation","tag-trail-maintenance","tag-voter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338730","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=338730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}