ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Monday, Oct. 19, marks the beginning of early voting for most Central Florida counties, including Orange County.<\/p>\n
Voters in Orange County will be electing a new mayor for the first time in eight years. They\u2019ll also be deciding how to vote on the property tax amendment.<\/p>\n
If Amendment 3 is approved, Orange County projects its revenue would be cut by $165 million dollars in 2027 and $275 million dollars in 2028.<\/p>\n
News 6 anchor Lisa Bell asked both candidates running for Orange County mayor \u2014 Chris Messina and Tiffany Moore Russell \u2014 how that could impact their new job:<\/p>\n
Chris Messina: \u201cOkay, let me start by first saying that I am 100% supporting Amendment 3 and I\u2019m encouraging everybody who\u2019s watching this to vote for it. I think it\u2019s time that we, in government, help our hardworking taxpayers by letting them keep more of their money. So year one, with the passage of Amendment 3, on average, the average Orange County homeowner will have $1,000 a year savings. That\u2019s gasoline for a year. Year two, they\u2019ll have a $2,000 average savings, and that\u2019s groceries, gas, essentials for a family of four for a month. So it\u2019s a very substantial relief for our hardworking taxpayers who are facing an affordability crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris Messina: \u201cNow, the projections that you\u2019re mentioning, those projections depend on the assumptions that are made and all those projections assume no growth, which is not true because over the past year, so from \u201925 to \u201926, our tax revenue grew by 13%. So if you multiply that by the tax revenue, you\u2019re looking at over $200 million. So there\u2019s your shortfall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiffany Moore Russell: \u201cI do not support Amendment 3 and for example, Amendment 3 puts at risk the Housing Trust Fund that the county has invested in because those are discretionary projects, right? And so I don\u2019t support Amendment 3. I do not believe that\u2019s the best answer to responding to the affordability issue that voters are asking for because Amendment 3 is not going to reduce their insurance costs. Amendment 3 is not going to reduce the price of gas. And so, I think it\u2019s, you know, disingenuous to tell voters that Amendment 3 is going to give them savings with over 45% of residents in Orange County actually renting. They don\u2019t own a home and so I do not support Amendment 3.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiffany Moore Russell: \u201cWhat it would require me to do is think creatively, think outside the box, but also be fiscally prudent when it comes to making tough decisions. And so what actually was interesting is my first year as the clerk of court, I had to cut my budget three times in one year and so that taught me the importance of innovation, challenging your staff to think of ways to find savings. So, at the clerk\u2019s office, we got rid of printing paper and so if it passes, you know, we will look at things like how do we delay capital projects, right? How do we delay capital improvement projects? How we do them timely, how do we deploy those projects? How do we consolidate some departments, right? Do we need to have a logistics person in each department? How can we centralize some of those services? So, we have to look for savings as well as do we freeze hiring and a zero-based budgeting moving forward? And so it is making tough decisions if you\u2019re having to find that revenue, if it should pass.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell also asked both candidates their views on Tourist Development Taxes, affordable housing and transportation. To see their full interviews, click on the videos below.<\/p>\n
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