Recent editorials from Florida newspapers:
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May 18
The Tampa Bay Times on a new homestead exemption:
The impact of the Florida Legislature’s foolish attempt to cut taxes by asking voters to increase the homestead exemption is becoming clearer throughout Tampa Bay. Hint: It would not be pretty, and it would not be fair.
With Hillsborough County facing an overall first-year loss of more than $30 million if the constitutional amendment passes next year, county administrator Mike Merrill told his staff earlier this month not to fill openings or promote internally. Other counties have yet to take such preliminary steps, but they will have to dig far deeper if voters approve increasing the homestead exemption by $25,000 in November 2018.
In Pinellas County, the overall impact would be a loss of $36.9 million. That would include a loss of $17 million by county government, $3.9 million in St. Petersburg and $1.5 million in Clearwater. Keep in mind that in St. Petersburg, property tax revenue now is entirely allocated to covering police costs and revenue from other sources covers everything else. Hillsborough County government would lose more than $30 million, and Tampa would lose more than $4.4 million. Pasco County expects to lose $13 million, and Hernando County expects to lose $2.8 million. With most areas still not entirely recovered from the recession even as growth has resumed, putting new demands on government services, the Legislature’s timing is way off.
So is any suggestion that this would be a fair, broad-based tax cut. It’s obvious that increasing the homestead exemption would shift more of the tax burden onto businesses, renters and owners of second homes that don’t benefit from the exemption. Now it’s also obvious that this is really a tax cut for middle-class homeowners at the expense of everyone else.
Here’s why. The first $25,000 in homestead exemption applies to all owner-occupied homes. The second $25,000 exemption approved by voters in 2008 applies to the home value between $50,000 and $75,000. This spring, the Legislature first considered a third $25,000 exemption that would apply to the home value between $75,000 and $100,000. But the overall loss of tax revenue in Florida - $795 million a year - proved even too much for this Republican-controlled Legislature. So to reduce the overall cost to $645 million, the Legislature agreed that the third $25,000 exemption would apply to the home value between $100,000 and $125,000. Translation: Only homeowners with houses valued at $125,000 and above would get the full benefit of the homestead exemption increase.
The result, according to county property appraisers’ offices in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, is that more than two-thirds of all households in Hillsborough and Pinellas (living in either non-homesteaded or homesteaded properties) would not benefit from this new tax break. In fact, only 55 percent of homesteaded Pinellas properties and 58 percent of homesteaded properties in Hillsborough would benefit.
Would it be smart to approve millions in property tax cuts that likely would result in deep cuts to government services and property tax increases for businesses and renters to benefit just one-third of the households?
The answer should be obvious.
Online: https://www.tampabay.com/
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May 19
The Ledger of Lakeland on recent moves by the state legislature:
For some time now Florida’s Republican-led Legislature has exhibited a troubling tendency toward … let’s call it irony.
While bemoaning overbearing mandates from Washington on matters like health care or education, for instance, our state lawmakers have handed down similar authoritarian measures for local governments and citizens alike - regardless of the perception, effect, or opposition.
On Tuesday, the Polk County Commission announced that the Legislature’s latest self-serving gambit went too far. Triggered by a proposal to increase the state’s homestead property tax exemption from $50,000 to $75,000 - which requires voter approval in an election next year - the board voted unanimously to cancel the annual Polk County Day at the state Capitol for 2018.
The event, held each year since 2003, has a dual purpose. It offered county officials a chance to brag a little bit about the community, and gave them a chance to meet face to face with key lawmakers who have an impact on issues the board considers critical.
Tuesday’s protest action resulted from commissioners feeling that lawmakers who represent Polk County ignored their concerns about the proposed homestead exemption. Commissioners, like many local governing boards around the state, oppose the increase, believing the mandate, if adopted, will force them to raise taxes or cut services. Commissioners have said the extra $25,000 exemption could mean a budget hit of at least $7 million.
The board, in an open letter to the community published in The Ledger on Thursday, applauded state Rep. Sam Killebrew, R-Winter Haven, for being the only one among Polk’s delegation to vote no and honor the county’s position on the issue.
Commissioner Todd Dantzler, who recommended canceling Polk County Day, also advocated in his motion scuttling the annual pre-session gathering with lawmakers. Dantzler observed such meetings were often difficult to arrange and largely unproductive. Commissioner Bill Braswell added that the delegation seemed more willing to do the bidding of legislative leaders than look after the folks back home.
The commission’s action is both unfortunate and understandable.
Normally, we’re fans of tax cuts. And the boost in the homestead exemption - which would apply to homes valued for tax purposes at between $100,000 and $125,000, but would not apply to school district property taxes - would be a good thing, especially for middle-class homeowners.
Yet local governments are justified in complaining. Local governments are just beginning to see the fruits of rising, post-recession property values, which, if continued, would enable them to generate more revenue and hold tax rates steady. If adopted, the Legislature’s tax cut will put the onus on city and county commissions to reduce services or increase property taxes to keep pace with current budgets. The tax burden also will shift to businesses and owners of non-homestead property.
And the locals’ biggest gripe is that they will deal with the fallout from unhappy constituents while state lawmakers can claim credit for a massive tax cut. (Legislative analysts project that homeowners statewide will collectively save $645 million in the first year of the new exemption.)
The commission’s symbolic venting on Tuesday may have been cathartic, but ultimately will prove ineffective.
For one thing, as The Ledger has reported in recent days, some members of Polk’s legislative delegation seemed surprised by, or were dismissive of, the County Commission’s reaction. The commission shouldn’t expect lawmakers to show empathy when they fail to grasp the root of the local anxiety.
Still, commissioners obviously felt they needed some demonstration of protest and canceling Polk County Day was the first thing handy. Maybe it will get lawmakers’ attention.
Meanwhile, the commission’s task now is to begin the work of convincing votes to reject the tax cut. It will be tough, especially as lawmakers crow with glee about their pro-taxpayer benevolence. But it must be done. That’s because commissioners, and no one else, will pay for the tax cut-related-suffering if they fail to counter Tallahassee’s overreaching.
Online: https://www.theledger.com/
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May 21
The Herald Tribune of Sarasota on private discussions that led to passage of Florida’s budget:
The private, high-level discussions that led to passage of Florida’s budget apparently were legal, even though critics contend that key legislative outcomes were negotiated in secret - an assertion House Speaker Richard Corcoran has challenged.
But no one can reasonably assert that the Legislature’s reliance on private meetings between two leaders - the speaker and Senate president - or a couple of committee chairmen constituted open, transparent government.
Opponents of House Bill 7069, including many school board members in Florida, have criticized not only the content of the education legislation but the manner in which it was reached.
It a May 12 tweet on Twitter - where else? - House Speaker Richard Corcoran stated: “Time to end the myth of ’legislation negotiated in secret.’” The hashtags #transparency, #HB7069 and #PutKidsFirst followed.
An independent assessment by PolitiFact rated Corcoran’s claim “false.” While acknowledging that some aspects of the bill had been previously discussed in committees, PolitiFact found: “During the final week of the regularly scheduled session, Corcoran and (Senate President Joe) Negron - with help from other key lawmakers … - negotiated in private a catch-all education bill that included a final version of the teacher bonuses language, the policies of other K-12 budget bills and myriad other proposals unrelated to spending.”
The final version of the bill was publicly released the evening of May 5. On May 8, the session’s last day, the House approved the bill 73-36; the Senate voted in favor 20-18.
It’s true that speakers and presidents, or their surrogates, have long hammered out differences - ranging from minor to significant - behind closed doors.
But that doesn’t mean that this process, past or present, is transparent or in the public’s interest.
We recognize that leading a legislative chamber is often akin to herding cats, and that some of the most important decisions are often left to be made in the waning days of a session. What’s more, if the session doesn’t end on time, leaders get grief from the media, constituents and others.
However, neither the public nor rank-and-file legislators, for that matter, are served well by a process in which vital issues are decided - for all intents and purposes - in private. The results are not subject to adequate analysis by legislators and members of the public have too little time and too few opportunities to learn about the legislation and communicate with the officials they elected.
Although meetings of two legislators are not subject to Florida’s Sunshine Law, they undermine the premise of open government. What’s more, term limits have concentrated even more power in the hands of the House speaker and Senate president, reducing the amount of influence that legislators outside the inner circles in either chamber can have on important bills.
Legislators are not going to change the rules that allow private sessions between two House and Senate leaders and, unfortunately, amending the constitution to open those meetings is a longshot. So much for Tallahassee being part of the Sunshine State.
Online: https://www.heraldtribune.com/
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