BY DAN HILDEBRAN
The second-ranking Florida House member recently said that if voters approve reducing or eliminating property taxes on homesteads later this year, the legislature should consider merging smaller counties into larger ones.
Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis began pushing to eliminate property taxes in the Sunshine State and proposed allocating $300 million in the state budget to backfill county budgets, making up for lost property tax revenue.
However, Rep. Wayne Duggan recently told a Jacksonville television station that lawmakers should also consider axing the state’s 29 fiscally restrained counties as an alternative.
“I just think it’s time for perhaps a conversation around reexamining those assumptions, and do we continue to go forward with 67 counties? Maybe we should only have 40,” Duggan told Action News Jax. “Should this county even exist by itself, or should it be combined with some other county, so we can lower the overhead that we have to backfill?”
Voters would have to approve any proposal to eliminate property taxes by a 60% margin. To reach the ballot, 60% of House and Senate members must vote in favor of the proposal.
Of the seven proposed resolutions now being considered, five would eliminate at least part of homestead property taxes.
HJR 201 eliminates non-school homestead property taxes.
HJR 203 phases out non-school homestead property taxes over 10 years.
HJR 205 exempts residents 65 and older from paying non-school homestead property taxes.
HJR 207 creates a non-school property tax homestead exemption equal to 25% of the assessed value of the house.
HJR 209 creates a $100,000 non-school homestead tax exemption for residences with property insurance.
HJR 211 eliminates the cap on portability, allowing homeowners to transfer tax savings from their previous home to a new one. This means a homeowner can transfer their Save Our Homes tax cap benefit to a new home.
HJR 213 limits how much the assessed non-school property tax can grow for a home: 3% every three years instead of 3% annually for homestead property, and 15% over three years instead of 10% per year for non-homestead property.
Florida’s fiscally constrained counties include Baker, Bradford, Calhoun, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Glades, Gulf, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Okeechobee, Putnam, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Wakulla and Washington.
Those counties collect a disproportionate share of property taxes from homesteads because they lack the commercial real estate that larger counties have.
Duggan is not the only House member who has floated the idea of eliminating smaller counties.
Speaker Daniel Perez brought up the possibility of downsizing the number of Florida’s counties in November.
“Do we have too many counties?” he asked during an interview about the property tax overhaul. “Should some of them maybe be combined? I don’t know. I have no idea. I’m not saying yes or no, but those are the questions that I’m asking.”
The governor appears to be backing away from his original $300 million backfill pledge, telling a cable news station that state help for smaller counties will eventually be phased out.
“Eventually they’re going to have to figure it out,” he said of the cash-strapped counties.
During a January 5 Union County Commission meeting, Chair Channing Dobbs warned residents that if county officials do not move on solutions to the county’s budget struggles, like implementing higher EMS and solid waste assessments, a fuel tax and impact fees, residents may ultimately wind up paying them anyway, after being absorbed by its larger neighbor to the south.
“What kind of Union County am I going to leave my kids or even my grandkids?” he asked the audience. “Are we going to leave them one at all or are we going to sit here and drag our feet and be absorbed and then pay to higher taxes anyway?
