Melbourne Area Blog

The Florida Legislature is due to begin a special session on June 12th to address property taxes. In the four months of the regular session they could not find a solution to this issue.

As many of you know I have strongly supported the portability of the 3% cap for homestead property and a roll back of assessed values.

Remember, what our representatives are voting on is what to put on the ballot for the voters. This session will determine what will be on the ballot.

A few of the points they will be voting on to put on the ballot:

1. To roll back taxes to the 2006 level.... the rapid increase in values began in 2003. This does not go far enough. It will have minimal effect and the majority of homes have decreased in value since 2005. It needs to go further back.

2. Do away with the Homestead Exemption as we know it. The new proposal is to expand the homestead exemption to 75% of the first $200,000 and 15% between $200,000 and $500,000. This will be a significent savings.

3. There will be more immediate tax cuts in the range of 3% - 9% depending on how much each County/City has raised taxes within the last 5 years. (In the Brevard area most cuts will be in the 5% - 7% range).

4. All property tax increases in the future will be based on new construction and personal income growth.

And the one to watch....

Local governments will be able to opt out of these cuts AND caps with super majority approval of boards.

It is important to let your representatives know how important these issues are to you!