Nearing the finish line

A flurry of late-afternoon votes at the Capitol has brought legislators within reach of a historic property tax cut package that Republicans say will bring needed relief but Democrats say will devastate local governments.
Only three days into a planned 10-day special session, both chambers already approved a $15.6 million package of property tax rollbacks and caps, and a Jan. 29 election date for a potential constitutional amendment establishing a “super-sized” homestead exemption.
The only item left on the Legislature’s to-do list: The amendment itself, which legislators were poised to approve before 6 p.m.
The amendment would offer Floridians an exemption of 75 percent on the first $200,000 of a property’s value, and 15 percent on the next $300,000.
Duval County legislators won a critical victory in an amendment that lowers the threshold by which the Jacksonville City Council can override the tax cuts and caps — from a unanimous vote to a three-fourths margin.
Adam Hollingsworth, a budget aide to Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, praised Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, and Rep. Dick Kravitz, R-Jacksonville, for pushing the amendment through and setting a more reasonable standard for taxing decisions.
"At the start of the day, Jacksonville's budget was about to be determined by legislation passed here in Tallahassee," Hollingsworth said. "As a result of this amendment, we'll be able to maintain local control."

— J. Taylor Rushing/The Times-Union

Senate approves constitutional amendment

The Florida Senate launched the beginning of the end of a historic property tax reform session Thursday with a final vote to send voters a significantly expanded — but optional — homestead exemption.
Senators voted 25-12 to approve a constitutional amendment that offers an expanded homestead provision that gives property owners 75 percent off the first $200,000 of a property’s value, and 15 percent off the next $300,000. A date for the amendment election — either January or November 2008 — has not been set yet.
But the amendment would also give voters the choice instead of keeping their slice of the state’s popular Save Our Homes provision, which caps a property’s growth at 3 percent a year.
Such a choice means that since some taxpayers will elect to stay in the Save Our Homes program, the impact of lost revenue to local governments will be less than imagined. Instead of the original $16 billion price tag, the total impact could be as low as $7 billion.
The last-minute amendment was conceived by Senate Majority Leader Dan Webster, a Winter Garden Republican, and Rep. Dean Cannon, a Winter Park Republican leading the House side of negotiations.
It was also a practical realization that the proposal was rapidly becoming unpopular because many property owners didn’t like being forced to give up their Save Our Homes provision for the long-term uncertain savings of the new exemption. The proposal would have allowed Floridians to retain their Save Our Homes status if they would have benefited more than the new exemption, but if not, it would have forced homesteaded property owners into the move.
“People were scared to give up Save Our Homes to go into this new thing, even if it may be better in the short term,” said Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville. “We were saying that if what we planned is better than what they’ve got, they don’t have a choice. And that was bothering a lot of them.”
The idea still requires approval by the House of Representatives, which is debating the package this afternoon. Final approval could come later today or tonight.

— J. Taylor Rushing/The Times-Union

Peyton makes appeal to GOP contingent

Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton on Thursday morning took the extraordinary step of asking Duval County's Republican-dominated legislative delegation to vote against their own party's $16 billion constitutional amendment proposal.
Peyton aide Adam Hollingsworth carried the message in an early-morning delegation meeting, telling Jacksonville's representatives that the $100 million impact on the city's budget was simply too much.
The request was extraordinary because Peyton is known for his strong GOP ties and effective working relationship with prominent Republican leaders such as former Gov. Jeb Bush and Gov. Charlie Crist.
The mayor did not ask legislators to vote against the $15.6 billion in property tax cuts that comprise the other half of the Republican-written package.
Rep. Dick Kravitz, R-Jacksonville, a former Jacksonville city councilman and a member of a special legislative committee that studied the state's property tax situation, said he hasn't decided whether to grant the mayor's unusual request.
If the amendment passes, Kravitz emphasized that voters will get the final say anyway.
"It may not be the best plan, but we did the best we could to bring forth something for the public to consider," he said. "Those who believe it would cripple us, like the mayor, will have a chance to make their case before the election."

- J. Taylor Rushing/The Times-Union

Senate schedules votes on tax reform

Florida legislators hurtled toward possible final passage of a historic, $31.6 billion property tax cut package Thursday morning, just three days into a 10-day special session.
Senate President Ken Pruitt said he has scheduled votes before the end of the day on the handful of bills that would give taxpayers $15.6 billion in tax cuts and another $16 billion through a potential constitutional amendment vote.
The House of Representatives debated until 10 p.m. Wednesday and is scheduled to convene at noon today. If both chambers approve the plan, the session will end early.
Senators said opposition to the plan will likely make it impossible to schedule the constitutional amendment vote on Jan. 29, since such an action requires a three-fourths vote in each chamber under the state constitution. That means the amendment is more likely for the November 2008 general election ballot instead, since that date requires a lower threshhold of approval by the Legislature.
The $15.6 billion in tax cuts would come through mandatory rollbacks and future caps on local governments’ taxing powers, although local governing bodies could override the cuts and caps.
Duval County lawmakers are hoping to amend the plan to lower the threshhold for an override vote by a city council or county board to a two-thirds or three-fourths requirement.

— J. Taylor Rushing/The Times-Union

Committees approve property tax cut

A pair of legislative committees approved a $31.6 billion property tax cut package for Floridians on Wednesday even as party-line divisions put its future in doubt.
Voting separately, the House Policy & Budget Council and Senate Finance & Tax Committee both approved a $15 billion tax rollback/cap plan, as well as a Jan. 29 constitutional amendment vote on a new, expanded homestead exemption that would replace the state's "Save Our Homes" provision. The measures now go to the full House and Senate floors, with the House scheduled to meet tonight and the Senate meeting tomorrow.
Critical differences remain between Republicans, who control the Legislature, and Democrats, who say the cuts will devastate local government services. A difficult three-fourths vote is required in both the House and Senate for the constitutional amendment, and Democrats locked down in opposition to the amendment. While their approval wasn't required for Wednesday's committee vote, their opposition may make the full floor votes razor-close in the coming days.
Debate Wednesday was often tense. Republican Rep. Dean Cannon of Winter Park, a leading House negotiator, bristled when Democrat Mary Brandenberg suggested the state would have to take drastic steps such as close prisons to make up the $7 billion in school funding cuts that would come with a successful constitutional amendment. Cannon said the suggestion was "inappropriate," and noted that legislators have proven capable in the past of finding billions of dollars for needed priorities.
The amendment, if approved by voters, would replace the "Save Our Homes" provision with a new homestead exemption of 75 percent of the first $200,000 in home value and an additional 15 percent for the next $300,000. It would cost $16 billion across the state, including $100 million in Jacksonville for the first year alone.

— J. Taylor Rushing/The Times-Union

Lower threshold to override tax cuts?

As legislative debate continues over property tax reform Wednesday, Jacksonville lobbyists and legislators are pushing the idea of lowering the threshold for local governments to override tax cuts and caps.
Rep. Dick Kravitz, R-Jacksonville and a member of a special legislative committee studying the property tax plan, said he believes the Legislature will eventually adopt a two-thirds standard for an override vote by local governments’ governing bodies.
Currently, the proposed plan requires a unanimous vote by a city council or county board if a city or county wants to exceed the tax rollback levels required by the legislative plan. Kravitz, a 12-year Jacksonville city councilman, says that is impractical.
“If it’s unanimous, then one person with an opposing view to everyone else could kill it for everybody,” he said. “Lowering it to a two-thirds standard restores local control and still protects taxpayers.”
Meanwhile, among the public voices heard Wednesday by the Senate Finance & Tax Committee was that of Anne Biondo of Jacksonville Beach, who drove to Tallahassee to weigh in on the property tax cut plan being debated by legislators.
A 40-year landlord, Biondo owns eight properties in and around the Beaches, and has seen her total tax bills jump from $15,000 in 1996 to nearly $46,000 in 2006. Biondo said the squeeze has cut into her income — and her ability to offer reasonable rents to tenants.
“I appreciate any consideration you can give me,” Biondo, 62, told the committee. “We need to do something to get relief.”

— J. Taylor Rushing/The Times-Union

Day 2 begins for special session

Legislators started the heavy lifting Wednesday on the details of a $31.6 billion property tax cut for Floridians, battling over changes that could be critical to the final vote.
House and Senate finance committees began debating the three-part plan that would offer property taxpayers a tax rollback, a future tax cut, and a constitutional amendment to greatly expand the state’s homestead exemption.
At the Senate Finance & Tax Committee meeting, a group of at least 100 blue- and white-shirted firefighters lined the room’s walls in silent protest of the proposed cuts. Local governments have complained the plan would devastate local services.
However, Republican Majority Leader Dan Webster of Winter Garden flatly refused to consider any amendments, however, answering simply “no” when asked if he would consider changes.
Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller of Cooper City, for example, tried to persuade Republicans to lower the plan’s requirement that local governments have a unanimous vote to override some of the tax cut or caps. Geller said such a threshold is impractical and unreasonable for governing bodies such as Jacksonville’s 19-member council that may face emergency circumstances.
“The chances of getting all members on the same page is very slim,” Geller said. “It’s not serving the people well, and it goes against every basic rule we’ve ever learned about government and representative democracy.”
That and other amendments were withdrawn, however. Webster said he did not want the amendments to come to a committee vote so they could be preserved and introduced on the Senate floor instead, probably Thursday.
— J. Taylor Rushing/The Times-Union