Local leaders face uncertainty as Governor unveils property tax proposal

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Local leaders are reacting to the Governor’s newly unveiled property tax phase-out plan.

That proposal plan would increase the homestead exemption fivefold, to $250,000 starting next year if it’s approved by lawmakers and voters.

Lawmakers would then set a schedule for the exemption to gradually increase until property taxes are fully eliminated.

The election takes place a month after next year’s local budgets kick in, and even if the Governor’s plan passes, local revenues wouldn’t take a hit until the next budget year, according to Jacksonville City Councilmember Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large).

“Prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” said Salem.

Salem argued that with a possible reduction of two or three hundred million dollars to Jacksonville’s budget just with that starting homestead exemption increase alone, leaders need to start considering cuts now.

“If you don’t start preparing for it now, it makes the ultimate hit that much tougher on us,” said Salem.

Mayor Donna Deegan’s Office told Action News Jax it’s monitoring different revenue scenarios and noted the plan “would have a significant impact on the city’s budget”.

“As it stands now, property tax revenue barely covers Jacksonville’s police and fire costs. It will put public safety in jeopardy to eliminate or dramatically change this revenue source,” said a spokesperson with the mayor’s office.

The Governor is pitching grants through a new state trust fund to shore up local government budgets and keep core services like police, fire, and schools fully funded.

But Cragin Mosteller with the Florida Association of County argued local governments would likely still have to find new ways of generating lost revenues.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and if you cut the ability for counties to pay for services, then they will have to go find those monies somewhere else to pay for those services,” said Mosteller.

Some local voters like Leyse Lowroy argued that, given all the unknowns and potential impacts, they’d rather see the legislature foreclose on the idea of property tax reform altogether.

“Basically, they’re taking money, instead of taking property taxes out of this pocket, they’re taking other kinds of taxes out of this pocket,” said Lowroy.

It remains to be seen what, if anything, lawmakers agree to actually place on the ballot when they return for their three-day special session on property taxes next Monday.

Any plan passed by lawmakers would also need to be approved by 60 percent of Florida voters in November.