Fla. House passes property tax

Fla. House passes property tax

	Published : Tue, 23 Oct 2007 13:45 By : Agencies Print this Story

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Florida House overwhelmingly passed a property tax plan Monday that is more complex and offers more relief to non-homeowners than a Senate version, creating a potential stalemate between the chambers.

Voters then may be left without a tax-cutting proposal on the Jan. 29 presidential primary ballot.

The House voted 108-2 for its proposed state constitutional amendment during a special session called by Senate President Ken Pruitt and House Speaker Marco Rubio after a judge removed an earlier legislative proposal from the ballot.

If legislative leaders can work out differences between the chambers, lawmakers will vote on a final version and then separately on a bill that would put the new plan on the Jan. 29 ballot. Those votes, though, will not come before Thursday.

Rubio, R-West Miami, said he was confident an agreement will be reached before an Oct. 29 deadline for placing a proposal on the primary ballot.

'This is a big issue and I think we are very close,' Rubio said. 'If you look at what the Senate passed and what the House passed, there's only a couple differences.'

The House gave strong bipartisan support to its proposal in contrast to a nearly party-line vote in the Senate.

The only no votes in the House were cast by Reps. Curtis Richardson and Loranne Ausley, both Tallahassee Democrats, who were worried about the loss of tax revenue in small, rural communities that already are financial constrained.

The Senate last week passed a proposal that had been worked out in advance with Gov. Charlie Crist and leaders of both chambers.

It would focus most cuts on primary homes, known as homesteads, which already have protection against rapidly rising assessments. The House proposal would go farther by providing similar protection for second homes, businesses and other non-homestead properties.

The existing Save Our Homes Amendment now limits annual assessment increases to 3 percent for homesteads. The House proposal would cap non-homestead properties at 5 percent.

The House and Senate plans both would offer homeowners bigger exemptions and the ability to take at least part of their Save Our Homes benefits with them when they move -- known as 'portability' -- although they differ on the details.

Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, earlier Monday was uncertain whether there would be any point in coming back to the Capitol if an agreement cannot be reached.

'We do not know at this time whether you will need to return to Tallahassee,' Pruitt wrote in an e-mail to fellow senators. 'Thank you for your patience.'

Crist said he prefers the Senate plan and considers it more 'doable' but that there's room for compromise by adding some elements from the House version to the final package.

House sponsors say their proposal would save taxpayers about $11 billion over the first four years compared to nearly $10 billion for the Senate plan.

Under the Senate plan, homeowners would see an average savings of $240 next year. For homeowners who move, the savings could exceed $800 next year.

The House plan, based on median housing values in each county, is more complicated. Average homeowner savings would range from $82 in Liberty County to $588 in Broward County. For those who move the average would range from $202 in Liberty to $1,806 in Miami-Dade County.

Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller, of Cooper City, said he would just as soon not return to Tallahassee. He said the tax plans in both chambers are just too complicated, noting the Senate turned down a simpler version Democrats had offered.

Lawmakers should spend more time on the issue and then put it on the ballot for the November 2008 general election when voter turnout will be much greater than the primary, he said.

'The more complicated it is, the less opportunity to examine it, the less likely we are to put it on the January ballot,' Geller said.

Agreeing on a tax-cutting plan is just half of the equation. That takes a three-fifths vote in each chamber. Putting it on the Jan. 29 ballot is the other half. That takes a three-fourths vote in each chamber because it's not a general election.

The 40-member Senate approved its proposal 26-11, two votes more than the minimum. No vote has yet been taken in either chamber on the Jan. 29 ballot placement. Sponsors, though, would need to find four more votes to get the 30 they would need in the Senate.

The Senate vote was largely along party lines with Republicans for and Democrats against. Two Democrats and two Republicans, though, crossed party lines. Three more Democrats were absent, but they were in effect no votes.

Lawmakers on Oct. 12 convened in special session -- their fourth this year -- after Chief Circuit Judge Charles A. Francis of Tallahassee ruled a proposal passed at a June special session had a misleading and inaccurate ballot summary. It said the measure would protect homestead benefits under the existing Save Our Homes Amendment although it actually would phase them out, Francis concluded.

The replacement proposals in both chambers would leave Save Our Homes intact.

The push for tax relief is in response to soaring property values in recent years that have increased assessments, particularly for properties without Save Our Homes protection.

'Everyone agrees that non-homesteads have taken the brunt of this property tax crisis,' Rubio said. 'We have an opportunity to address it. That's what our members saw when they put that in the bill and I tend to agree with them on that.'

Associated Press writers David Royse and David Heller contributed to this report.