I predicted the County's would balk at the idea of Governor Crist campaign promises of property tax reform. I, a long with most Floridians support him and his property tax relief plan! But the county's are not willing to take the hit for property tax relief because they have already over spent.
Our county commissioners here in Pasco must step up to the plate on this issue for the people they represent as the Governor has asked. "Do a better job of cutting expenses."
The 1st step is for them to learn how to control there spending and 2nd is to start today controlling growth. And 3rd is consolidate our County government into one county and not three as we have today, West Pasco,Central and East Pasco. We have offices from one end of the county to the other.
For those of you that don’t know the Impact fee in Pasco County is now at around $10,000. Very small compared to other Counties but I do not have county water/sewer or street lighting and nor do I want them. I paid Pasco County almost $12,000 to have my street paved. Larger land owners paid more.
I feel as most, "what do I get for my tax dollar"?
The Banks are now Repo 25-40 homes a month here in Pasco County (Fox 13 News reported), but building continues.
Commissioner Hildebrand: if you have lowered our property taxes why is it that mine doesn’t reflect that? And why should the property taxes be any different if the house is already there. If there is no house on the land you get hit with an impact free of $10,000 and higher tax rate. It's very difficult for me to justify having it both ways. Is that double taxation even though one is called an impact fee? Do developers pay that impact free too and if so were is that money going?
Commissioner Mulieri: Are you losing sight of Pasco County's Heritage "Agriculture"? And yes everyone uses county services in some form or the other, but people in rural community "what's left of it" are less of a load on the county and pay maybe the most taxes because of our land size. We don’t have the niceties such as water/sewer and lighting enjoyed in the more populated areas. And no Pat I don’t want to see businesses flourish though out the county, please let rural areas stay as such! I have said this to you before "everyone doesn't want to live in a subdivision."
You put the burden on who ever is the biggest load on the County. As tax payers we depend on our elected leaders to make good decisions for us. Please Pat continue to do so as you have done in the past.
The article below is from the Tampa Trib. A few weeks back
Palmer "Sonny" Lefstead
7700 Bay Pines Dr.
Wesley Chapel, Fl. 33544
813-973-1119
Ret. City of Tampa Fire / Ret. Vol. Fire Chief of Pasco County
T
During the past several years, Dudley Saunderson has watched as rising property taxes, insurance premiums and other homeowner costs have eaten away at his bank account and retirement funds. Like many of the elderly residents who live in the Heritage Pines subdivision, a 55-plus community in Hudson, Saunderson lives a frugal life on a fixed income. Every year, he said, his property tax bill and other expenses get larger."It's like I rent my home from the government for $200 a month," the 76-year-old said. "What happened to the American dream?"The problem, as he sees it, is rampant overspending and overtaxing by the county government."They've got to stop the spending and reduce taxes," he said. "It's totally out of control."
Stories like Saunderson's resonated with Gov. Charlie Crist on the campaign trail, and he made a promise to bring property tax relief to Florida residents. Now, they say it's time for Crist to deliver.
The governor on Wednesday disbanded a tax reform committee appointed by former Gov. Jeb Bush, saying the state needs a quick fix to its tax woes. Crist told committee members in an e-mail he can't wait for their findings due in December. He suggests a special election to change the constitution to allow counties to double homestead exemptions to $50,000 and permit homeowners to carry Save Our Homes caps on assessed property values with them when they move. Crist also wants to impose a 3 percent annual cap on assessments of business and rental properties.
That sounds great on the surface, county leaders say, but they fear the residents Crist intends to protect will be hurt in the end.
Who Will Benefit?
Pasco's county and municipal leaders view sweeping tax reform as a "feel-good" move that ultimately will create further strain on services. Some say residents' complaints are based on perception, and most calling for reform are not eligible for homestead exemptions and therefore will not benefit. The leaders surmise tax reform will exacerbate inequities and shift the burden to business owners, whom the county depends upon to build the tax base.
"I know the governor campaigned on this, and folks are saying, 'I need another break,'" Pasco County Commission Chairwoman Ann Hildebrand said. "We are one of the few states that doesn't have a state income tax … our county has been very proactive. We have lowered our [tax rate] every year for the past six years. By and large, somebody who has been homesteaded is paying less. It's the new guy who moves in next to you who is paying more."
Pasco leaders predict they and other Florida counties will have to raise property taxes and other fees to make up the difference if the laws change. That, they say, will bring residents like Saunderson back to square one.
"Everybody uses services, and in turn you have to pay some for them," Commissioner Pat Mulieri said. "If you want businesses to flourish, where are you going to put the burden? Do we move it over to the business community?"
Michael Nurrenbrock, Pasco's director of management and budget for 24 years, said proposed changes do not consider the varied circumstances of Florida counties, let alone differences in rural east, urban west and suburban central Pasco. Statewide reform also does not account for differences in the way counties assess taxes or cut costs.
Nurrenbrock argued Pasco has been fiscally conservative, steadily reducing its tax rate in recent years as property values have gone up. Residents with continuous homestead exemptions are paying less in property taxes this year than they did in 2001.
Doubling homestead exemptions would mean counties would have to cut expenses more or make up the difference in some other way. That won't be easy for counties in the Panhandle that already charge the maximum property tax rate of $10 per $1,000 of valuation, Nurrenbrock said. It also is unfair to counties such as Pasco that have put off building projects and charged higher construction impact fees to lower the tax rate of $6 for $1,000 of valuation.
"There are 67 different counties and 67 different situations," Nurrenbrock said. "If these laws come down, they will come down and make it difficult for some. People who have been fiscally conservative in the past will be asking why they were fiscally conservative."
Find A Way, Governor Says
Crist has responded to counties' and cities' concerns by saying they need to do a better job of cutting expenses.
Pasco officials argue they have been frugal, but the costs of construction, fuel and other supplies have increased, making it more difficult to build parks, libraries, courts and jails.
The county has taken other cost-cutting measures, among them dramatically reducing the amount of insurance it carries for public buildings, Nurrenbrock noted. Still, premiums skyrocketed. Pasco also for many years has set aside money for construction. That allowed officials to pay cash for the West Pasco Government Center in New Port Richey. An additional $12 million is to be applied to the cost of a jail expansion project.
"People have a misunderstanding about how," the county budget works, Nurrenbrock said. "They think all the spending is paid for with property taxes, and that's not true."
The county budget is supported by state and federal funding, gas taxes, sales tax and fees, among other sources. About 20 percent comes from property taxes. Between 16 percent and 36 percent of the city budgets are comprised of property taxes.
"People always say, 'There's a lot of fat in there.' It's subjective what people think we should cut," Nurrenbrock said. "We have three diverse areas of the county. We are building a park in Wesley Chapel, which some people may think is not a good idea, but those are the same kind of benefits people in west Pasco have enjoyed for a long time."
Same In The Cities
Pasco cities are facing similar struggles.
City Manager Harold Sample of Dade City said Crist's proposal would be crippling.
"I think the governor's recommendations are ill-timed," Sample said. "The state has shifted the burden to locals for years. To say, 'You can do better' is, I think, hypocritical. I am concerned when we are pushing this ill-advised plan when we should be looking at the whole picture … many people will vote for it without realizing the ramifications of it are horrendous."
Sample argued homestead exemptions - created to entice new residents to Florida when it was mostly a swamp and to boost the economy - have outlived their usefulness. In Dade City, for example, while longtime residents are saving on their tax bills, the city has been struggling to keep services afloat.
Dade City in recent years disbanded its fire department and put off improving or replacing decaying city buildings to save money. The city has little new revenue coming in, Sample explained, because many residents have lived in the same homes for many years and are protected by Save Our Homes. Governments gain revenue when homes are sold and property values are reassessed at market rates.
"There is a huge difference between appraised values and what they are paying," Sample said. "It has shifted most of the burden to businesses."
Zephyrhills City Manager Steve Spina agreed the state should look at its own spending before asking local governments to tighten budgets.
'Do It On Their Dime, Not Ours'
"If they want to cut taxes, cut [them] on the state level," Spina said. "Do it on their dime, not ours."
He called Crist's plan to cut local taxes irresponsible.
"He's thrown out sound bites on local government being bloated and overspending. Show me some examples," Spina said. "Our sanitation trucks are $150,000 a pop. Our police cruisers are $20,000 to $25,000. Those are legitimate expenses."
If the state forces the city to cut local taxes, Zephyrhills would have to come up with other ways to get revenue. Already, the city charges impact fees on new home construction. Those fees likely would have to go up if the city cut taxes. In the end, Spina said, there would be no savings.
In Port Richey, city officials have tightened their belts during the past year by cutting back on spending and reducing the property tax rate amid a challenge to its sovereignty from a group of tax reformers.
Port Richey City Manager Jerry Calhoun said a reduction in property taxes flowing into the city's general fund would mean cuts in services, most likely from the police and fire departments.
"If that's the mandate from the taxpayers, then everyone will have to bear the burden," he said. "It will mean making some really difficult decisions as a municipal government."
Calhoun said the governor's criticism of overspending by municipal and county governments is misguided.
"It rings hollow in the face of what the state does," Calhoun said. "Clean your own house first and then come talk to us about everyone else. Not every city and not every county wastes taxpayer dollars."
In New Port Richey, where a portion of property tax dollars collected by the county are redirected to city coffers for redevelopment, officials are equally worried.
In 2001, New Port Richey became one of the first cities in Florida to declare itself blighted. The move allowed it to keep money from an increase in county property taxes generated within city limits for the next 25 years. The money is earmarked for redevelopment projects, including downtown, neighborhoods and park improvements, all of which is aimed at boosting the tax base.
City Manager Scott Miller said a reduction in county property taxes could weaken the city's redevelopment efforts.
"It certainly will have an effect on the redevelopment funds that we obtain from the county," he said. "We'll just have to scale back the projects. Instead of doing a $100,000 project, we would narrow it down to a $60,000 project."
Ultimately, Miller said, the ball is out of the city's court.
"I know the public wants to see tax relief, and if that's what they are demanding, we just need to do it," he said. "It's going to be a challenge for us. But other cities and states across the country have done it before. And so can we."
Reporters Nicola M. White and Karen Branch-Brioso contributed to this report. Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.
Sonny
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