Welcome to Ocala.com Blogs - Commissioners sound off on property tax amendment

Opinion

Ocala.com Bloggers

Search Blogs



KeywordsPhrase

Blog Archives

Archive

July 2008

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

Monthly

July, 2008

June, 2008

May, 2008

April, 2008

March, 2008

February, 2008

January, 2008

December, 2007

November, 2007

October, 2007

Commissioners sound off on property tax amendment

Location: Blogs Marion Politics
Posted by: Ocala.com Election Coverage	1/14/2008 1:40 PM
These are the thoughts of all five Marion County commissioners on the property tax amendment that goes before voters on Jan. 29. Stan McClain, who sent his comments by Blackberry: Amendment 1 seems to have something for everyone, however I have concerns that it does not provide the fundamental change that it is needed to solve the inequíties that currently exist or to provide the tax relief that most homeowners are expecting. It is difficult to calculate the long term effects on local government, but we will continue to. offer the best Service possible to our citizens. I am in support of amendment 1 as a First step to offering some relief and equity. Jim Payton: DON'T LET THE LANGUAGE FOOL YOU, the proposed amendment does not double the Homestead Exemption. School taxes make up 43 % of all real property taxes in Marion County and the exemption does not apply to school tax. Furthermore the amendment could very well result in the reduction of services such as fire rescue, ambulance and police protection. The amendment is premature because a blue ribbon panel of Florida citizens is currently doing work that will likely result in real tax reform. Andy Kesselring: As proposed this amendment, while it will provide some relief to both homesteaded and non-homesteaded properties, it doesn't really address the underlying problem of our tax code. Property taxes are one of the most unfair ways of raising revenue, yet the Legislature gives us few other options. This approach will not provide the relief most people are demanding, yet it will cause local governments to make decisions that will not be in the best long-term interest of our communities. We are going to have to choose between services and long-term capital improvements, maintenance or quality of life issues, jobs or law enforcement. This sledge-hammer approach does not allow local communities to decide for themselves how they want to grow and prepare itself for the future. Marion County, over the last 5 years, had the 3rd best rate of growth in its budget (the least amount of increase) than all of the counties in Florida (not including the financially constrained counties). We have managed our money well without increasing our debt, paying for capital improvements in cash, and addressing some of our long-running problems. Unfortunately this amendment will hurt our ability to continue these efforts. The portability issue is even more problematic in that new-comers to our area will not be paying their fair share of the additional impacts they will cause. Marion County has many more people moving in than moving out, and this proposal will cause us to fall farther behind. If the Legislature was serious about reform, they would look at the entire picture and would develop a well thoughtout plan than addresses all of the issues. While I agree that something needs to be done, this does not appear to be the answer for Marion County. Charlie Stone: The property tax reform amendment may NOT offer the relief on real estate taxes that property owners are looking for. It will be interesting to watch the proponents and the opponents tell the voters about the good and the bad of this amendment. I hope everyone will study this issue and determine how it will affect them. Personally I don't believe it is a real fix for property tax relief. I think it is short of a much needed tax cut. If it is passed it will offer only a small to any individual owner, however it surely will impact the budget of local government. With that said, I believe government can downsize and still offer the essential services to the citizens of Marion County. I will not recommend or discourage anyone to vote for or against this amendment. Barbara Fitos: I am concerned that the needs of my neighbors and constituents for well deserved comprehensive property tax reform, are not being met by ill advised and hastily redrafted ballot language for the January 29th property tax amendment - an amendment that fails to address the disproportionate tax burden on non-homestead property, new homeowners and how property values are determined. Superficial promises of immediate tax savings mask the unintended consequences for all taxpayers, given the impact of mandated tax cuts on local government's ability to balance budgets and fund essential services. - Christopher Curry

Permalink \| Trackback

Comments (6) Add Comment

Re: Commissioners sound off on property tax amendment	By Tax Payer on 1/24/2008 1:08 PM
You Commissioners claim the amendment is not enough or it's not fair or it's not real reform. Well after all your years in office what have you done to give us homeowners enough of a tax cut, or propose real reform or make taxes fair? This amendment will cut homeowners' taxes, period. After that no one can predict what will happen. I'll take the cut.

Re: Commissioners sound off on property tax amendment

By John Lake Sr on 2/26/2008 11:19 AM

In looking at the cuts the agencies are proposing I don’t see any plans to look at the current operations and see what can be streamlined. One of the areas that should be considered is the Marion County Fire Rescue Administration. This department has a division with 6 people of which 3 are supervisors. This means each person has their own personal supervisor. The Division Chief of the Prevention Division isn’t certified as a fire inspector (a political appointment?). This means he can’t do inspections or plans review or even make rulings on the intent of the code, limiting his worth. With the reduction in the numbers of building inspections, it makes good sense to train and utilize staff to their fullest capabilities. I guess the county doesn’t insist on cross-training anymore. Instead they just change the job description to meet the person’s competency or lack thereof. The county recently laid off building inspectors due to a reduction in building. What did Fire Rescue management do when the County Commission decided to not renew the Storage Tank Contract? They created a new job description for the Environmental Specialist. Why didn’t they just eliminate the position? Because they needed someone who could do what the Division Chief/Fire Marshal isn’t capable of. The reduction in number of building inspections and elimination of storage tank inspections provide serious question as to staffing needs. Why should we continue to pay for positions that are not necessary? The recent vote on amendment 1 should send a clear message to the County Commission and the message is Eliminate the Waste.

Price of Freedom

By UncleSam on 3/8/2008 7:16 AM

I'm a rather humble person and I don't make a substantial amount of money. I go to work everyday just trying to keep my head above water. It seems that everything is unproportionally increasing in price with the exception of my hourly wage. Just the basic services that most Americans have grown accustom to over the years, are quickly becoming luxury items. A $200 a month electric bill, $150 cable bill, $60 phone bill, $150 a month car insurance bill, $500 a month car bill, $200 a month gasoline bill, $600 a month grocery bill, a $1,000 a month mortgage payment etc..... Just these basic items alone are costing me $2,360 each and every month. If you are only making $15.00 an hour, which is much higher than most employers are paying their employees here in Ocala, you have $40 left a month before taxes. Your take home pay isn't even going to come close to covering these basic essentials. So for $600 a week in Ocala, your pretty much one step away from being considered indigent! Now take a look through the Banner's employment ads and see what most are offering for an hourly wage. It appears that $10 an hour might be a little high for an average starting salary, but you better be able to walk on water for $15 an hour. We haven't even included such things as a gym membership, clothing issues, pet supplies, vet bills, car and house maintenance, occasionally going out for dinner or drinks, going to the movies, eating lunch out everyday while your working, extra money for school parties and functions, birthday and holiday gifts, extra curricular sporting activities for the kids, weekend getaways, and the occasional summer vacation! It is truly out of control. Even a family with both parents working 40 hours a week is going to find it very difficult. And of course this is going to bring some added expenses to the table as well. Now we're talking about an additional vehicle, more gas money, additional maintenance & repairs, child care or extended day, additional lunches and a whole lot more stress! My college educated wife decided to go back to work and after weeks of interviews, she finally settled for a job making $10 an hour. Don't laugh, they only wanted to pay $8.50 an hour, but she had so much experience they went the extra mile and gave her the additional $1.50. It was absolutely ridiculous! Anyway, to make a long story short, she quit her job after 3 months because it was actually costing us more money than she was clearing (not enough for the added stress anyway). After taxes she was bringing home like $1,200 a month. We already had an additional vehicle so there was no extra car payment, but when you subtract the nearly $75 a week in gas, the $75 a week for lunches, the $50 a week for extended day, she cleared NEARLY $100 a week. The additional $100 a week wasn't worth the additional stress of both of us working 40 hours a week. I was miserable, she was miserable and the kids were miserable. We had one child in middle school who got home before us, one we had to rush to the school each day to pick up another from extended day. He got out of school at 2 PM each day and had to spend an additional 3 1/2 hours sweating outside and fighting with the other pissed of kids. Then one of us would have to cook dinner for everyone, attend to the usual kid issues, pick up the house, do some laundry, pack some lunches and then around 9 PM we had some quality time to use the can, take a shower, let the dogs out and go to bed. Then when the alarm went off, it was time to do it all over again. Where does it end? When is enough, enough? I don't have the answers, but somebody has got to figure it out. We've got all of these talk show professionals on television talking about a variety of issues. They want to know why the divorce rate is so high, why there are so many kids growing up in a single parent home, why are the kids are acting out, why some ordinary guy wigged out and killed some people at work, why are we having so many college campus shootings, why is the crime rate so high, why are our children not up to par in mathematics and science. The list goes on and on. Maybe it's just a matter of economics. Maybe, if one of the parents could provide a descent living for their families, the other could take care of the housework, pick the kids up from school, take them to little league, help them with their homework and provide them with the some good old loving support, we wouldn't be in the shape we are now. This all sounds very familiar, it almost sounds like the United States of the 1950's. Where one parent could provide for their family, where you owned a descent home, and could afford two cars. where has it all gone?

"MOST"	By WeShallSee on 3/10/2008 11:09 PM
Crist has described the predictions of police and firefighter layoffs as a scare tactic. On Wednesday, he said it was wrong to think that responsible local government officials would endanger public safety.<br><br>"I don't believe there will be a dropoff, whether it's fire protection or police protection," Crist said. "Most people in local government are good, responsible stewards."

Very Sad

By BS on 3/10/2008 11:18 PM

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- At least one Central Florida school district says the passage of Amendment One is very bad news for its students. Wednesday afternoon the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission was discussing what happens next. The discussion comes after the controversial property tax amendment was passed Tuesday night when 64-percent of voters gave it the go-ahead. The Seminole County School Board warned parents that Amendment One would hurt the quality of schools. And they say now that it has passed, the warning has become a reality. In Sanford, at Pine Crest Elementary School, the teacher's union predicts multi-million dollar budget cuts. They said they are just beginning to work on how they will absorb an expected $6.4 million budget cut and that's just for 2008. The Seminole County Educators, a teachers union in Seminole County, said Amendment One's victory will mean a long-term budgetary problem. This year alone, the Seminole County property appraiser expects the district will lose $6.4 million from its budget. And the cuts will continue from there. If nothing changes, the losses could be roughly $27 million by 2012. The teachers say spending on students in the form of the district's operating budget will drop dramatically. Those are funds for things like supplies and teacher's salaries. "The children are our future. That's everybody's future. If the children don't have a future then where is America going? That's really sad," said Christine Kennedy, a Seminole County parent. The teachers said this is the price they are paying for the equivalent of $20 worth of savings per month in the form of property tax savings guaranteed by Amendment One. Florida was ranked 50th in educational spending in the U.S. and now the teachers expect that spending to drop dramatically.

Win, Win for CC	By Albert on 3/10/2008 11:29 PM
Amendment One is a win, win situation for the County Commission. If it all works out well, they are the heroes. If it hits the fan, they will blame it on the Governor. "After all, this isn't a local issue, it's a State issue." <br><br>When it's all said and done, it'll sure be Marion County's problem!

Your name:
Title:
Comment:

Security Code Enter the code shown above in the box below
Add Comment Cancel