2007B SPECIAL SESSION

 LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Along party lines, the House and Senate on Thursday passed Senate Bill 4B, which would amend the Florida Constitution -- if approved by voters -- to lower property taxes and cut nearly $31 billion in property taxes, including $7.2 billion from the education budget, over the next five years. To make up for the $24 billion in lost revenue not tied to education, other services will have to be cut. Because police agencies, firefighters and social services make up a large portion of city budgets, it is widely assumed those areas will suffer significant cutbacks.

To put this all in perspective, FEA lobbyist Marshall Ogletree explained that the average tax savings for 2008-09 would be $1,306 for the average homesteader. To receive that tax savings, education will lose about $1.6 billion. If instead that $1.6 billion were used to increase teacher salary it would translate to an annual salary increase of about $6,500 for every Florida teacher, raising them above the national average. 

The Legislature voted unanimously to place the constitutional amendment on the ballot on January 29, 2008, the same day as the state’s presidential primary election. 

Senate Bill 6B, which also passed on Thursday, reduces the ad valorem taxes that may be levied by local governments, other than school districts, in fiscal year 2007-08 to below the level of taxes levied in 2006-07. The bill limits the growth of ad valorem tax levies in future years (except those levied by school districts) to the growth in a jurisdiction’s population as measured by new construction and the statewide growth in per capita personal income. However, local government governing bodies may increase ad valorem tax levies by super majority votes or by voter referenda. Any county or municipality that levies taxes in excess of the amount permitted under the bill will forfeit participation in the half-cent sales tax revenue sharing program.