Florida Tax Reform Needed Today

Amen John! It's all too little too late from our illustrious legislators - both for taxes and insurance. We've been working with our county appraiser to get the new "Save Our Homes" petition accepted and are also encouraging everyone we speak with to contact their state representative. If our fellow residents don't speak up now, all we'll get is another half hearted bill that the group in Tallahassee will call relief.

Nice Post, we need some New Jersey tax reform as well.

Thanks James... one state at a time!

It is a great time to buy real estate and yet everyone is waiting for the State to do something they should have done years ago. They are playing a shell game, like they did with insurance, all because no one at the State, County and local levels know how to cut expenses/costs, remove duplication of services, reduce pensions, be more efficent and stop all of these special, non-essential projects. IT IS TIME FOR EVERYONE to get involved and don;t let them leave or vote for a quick fix. They need to stay there for as long as they need to to do what is right. The apathy also needs to stop because a lot of people just talking about the tax issue over coffee has not resulted in anything - which is why the tax crisis is what it is. Everyone has an opportunity to make a change - and it is needed today.

This is from FAR. We are doing a call to action. It is strategically set to send your voices tomorrow. "Unfortunately, we don't believe that the proposal being considered by the legislature this week goes far enough in offering relief to all property owners. You will see in the letter that we especially believe that non-Homestead and commercial properties deserve much greater relief given the tremendous increase in taxes those properties have been burdened with because of the inequalities of Save Our Homes. Property tax reform is being divided into two separate pieces of legislation - a statutory roll back bill and a Constitutional amendment bill. It is the statutory rollback provisions that provide immediate relief. The Constitutional amendment language would be placed on the January Presidential Primary ballot. If you need greater detail on the bills, you can follow the links to HB 1B and HB 3B." Paste the link below to log in and send your message: http://votervoice.net/target.aspx?id=flar:16563776 This is huge, our voices must be heard and now! They are meeting now so please don't delay.

John, It is obvious that your personal gain in home sales is your motivation for this blog. Exactly how much research have you done on city budget? You say essential services will not be cut but in the very next breath you say cut their pensions. There has been a shortage of firefighter/paramedics in South Florida for 10 years. Do you think you can attract more into the profession by offering even less than today. CUT THE BUDGETS. REDUCE THE SPENDING. We're going to need you to be a little more specific John. Exactly where should the budget be cut? Labor accounts for approximately 90% of a cities budget. Significant cuts cannot come without cutting jobs and services. This is undeniable. The fire department I work for is recommending layoffs and closing a station to come up with the necessary spending cuts. This is happening today!!! You cannot provide police and fire if you can't pay them. Does this make sense to you John?

Dear Jeff- Yes, budgets account for more than 75% in labor costs but there are two points a)there is a lot more money which can be cut in lots of other areas and departments than "eseential services" and b)we all, as residents, need to ensure that there are NO CUTS to essential services. Don't you see that the cities and County all scream (and pay big bucks to the lobbyists - our tax dollars) "we will cut essential services" to get folks all scared that essential services would get cut. I challenge any city or county budget that there is not areas in their budget to cut (misc. administrative labor, pension plans for new employees reduced or not offered at all anymore, etc., etc.) before they cut fire, police, etc. The problem is no one gets involved with the actual budgets, sits by their coach and listens to the PR spins, and reacts based on overall emotion. Here is an example, in the City of Hollywood, the city (and Mayor) refuse to address why they have not gone to the State pension program??? I do not know about you or anyone else, but we do not have pensions. And while I have no problem offering those who put their life on the line a pension as part of a package, I can assure you that the cities, etc. are doing nothing about controlling new pension costs, administrative counsultant charges for those pensions, and all of the areas of waste and duplication. And yes, Mr. Sabia is in real estate but I would have to say horaah to him and any other professional in this business to scream what the masses are still not doing - getting involved to tell Legislative and county folks to do their job to help all of us professionally and personally. And lastly, you know what, jobs in non-essential service areas may have to get cut in order for people to take a closer look - every other business sector has had to do the same. But what none of us can afford is to keep doing thing - because frankly we keep getting the samething - higher taxes, less services, more waste, and more apathy. My last comment is that I as a resident will not allow one fire or police job to get cut and ask that every resident fight for the samething. Do you also understand Mr. Lyons that the city and county, etc. have told you folks about laying off to get all of you to speak up on their "benefit." What your city should do is search where they need to cut in other areas and state very clearly that they would never cut essential services. They would do that during an election but not now - don't you see that. We are all in this together need to work together to do the right things, focusing on the right things and not on each other.

Joe: Thank you for responding before I could.

John, don't let someone put words into your mouth. Feel free to respond yourself. Joe, you really have'nt done your research. When going to the state pension plan your city will still pay for it. In fact, the average 10% that the employees contribute would no longer be given leaving the total burden to the city. Also, many cities have not contributed a penny to pension plans in years. Most contracts require the city to make up any shortage in pension funds. The stockmarket has done so well that employees' contributions have been all that is needed saving cities millions of dollars. The reason most people don't have pensions is because they don't put 10-12% of every dollar they earn towards retirement like city employees. In saying this, I will back you 100% if you can get more cities on the state pension plan. Firefighters and police will get the same retirement and get back 10-12% of their paycheck. You and John keep mentioning waste and excessive spending but you still have not stated the specific waste. City bugets are public record. Feel free to look them up and tell me EXACTLY where we should make cuts besides labor. And remember, your 75% figure does'nt include the cost to put those firefighters and police on the road. By the time you pay for fuel, cars, fire trucks, ambulances, stations, vehicle maintenance and the electric and utilities bill, you are at 89-92%. Don't think that the cost of living has only gone up for you. It has risen for every city also. Fort Lauderdale now spends $200,000 plus on gasoline each month. I wonder if skyrocking fuel prices can be called city waste.

Jeff- How about a 250k talking toilet? Brick sidewalks from us1 to 441 or mosiac glass tiles on bridges? How about the "monument to waste" school board building? Or fancy glass doors at the school board building that leak air-conditioning 24/7 through inch-wide gaps between the door and frame? Or the endless capital improvements the cities are making? 20-year plans were compressed to ten in Fort Lauderdale because they had such windfalls! How about the endless pipe dream contracts that cities like Lauderhill, Oakland Park, and Lauderdale Lakes had to come up with drawings and plans for their “Downtown Revitalization.” Oakland Park presented a plan where they were going to put million-dollar three and four story condos on the Dixie corridor with upscale shopping. Somebody forgot to tell them that nobody wants a million dollar condo in a light industrial area or next to freight train track with no passenger rail. How about the 0 million on a county park that the County bought from some developer pals of theirs. They flipped it to the county for millions in profit just hours after they bought it. Should I go on?

Jeff- Come on man - if you think that there is no waste in these city and county budgets...then I do not know what to tell you. It looks like you will soon be one of the few staying in the state willing to pay for all of this. Like the other viewer stated - $250,000 toilets, etc. (give me a break - need anymore examples??) when people can not afford their homes. Need I say anymore? EVERYONE needs to cut down spending. You may need to do your homework more. Let me ask you this -- zero based budgeting? Do you know what it is? Do you know how many cities and county (for years) do not use it. Ask that question and that alone will tell you a lot. I do not't know about you, but I contribute to my own retirement and have no problem doing so. But when expenses are out of control, I trim my waste personally and at business and certainly expect every city and county employee to do so as well. And if City Managers, Mayors, etc. can not do it, then we will get folks in their spots who can. Jeff, if the tax rolls have increased by 18% on average every year, can you honestly say that there has been the same increase in services, improvements, etc?? And just because the tax rolls went up, do you think their expenses (gas, maintenance, etc.) went up the same percentage of increase. Of course not. The cities and County have expected these revenues and have done nothing to control the spending. This year, they were not asked nicely by people to cut their budgets, they are now being told. So what do they do, the use our money to fight to hold onto the same money and screaming essential services will be cut. Let's let these city, county, school. etc. people come up with their own explanations, and tell to also stop using my tax dollars for special interest groups, unions (which is where this dialogue is coming from) to keep their status quo of spending, and maybe we can keep all happy. Frankly, there are tons of people disenchanted with the State, et. al., and at the rate we are going, there may be fewer and fewer full time residents with even less revenues, money going into the local economy. I guess I am at one loss with your comments and that is you say you are a firefighter and you have folks like myself who say that we will not stand to see firefighters and police jobs go, yet you still want to stand behind the city's who threatened your job personally because of their years of spending. It says to me, are a city worker and are we missing something here? Lastly, if compared to other states with the same populations, etc. show that the same or better service, same or better response times, same or better crime rates (cause frankly crime rates are also a disgrace in South Florida this year too), can be handled with fewer people, then that may also need to be looked at too - no matter how it sounds. Sorry but my comments are fair and this is constructive dialogue to help us all out - nothing personal.

You still are'nt telling me where 10 million dollars a year on average for the first year of cuts is going to come from. This is per city and a small city I might add. I agree that there is waste but not the volume you are claiming. Come on, give me some specific numbers we can cut back on. What you are really saying is, you want a reduction at any cost. Let the cities figure out where to cut because you can't. Well, as I stated earlier, the numbers just are'nt there without job cuts. SHAME ON JEFF. Do we have to resort to attacks. Shame on me for offering information? If you don't want your city to put in brick pavers and beautify the area then attend your local commission meetings and voice your oppinion. Tell them not to plant trees or clean the streets. Tell them to close the parks. Tell them to stop wasting money on programs for senior citizens or kids. Tell them you really dont' care if the School Board building is remodeled. This is why you have a voice. By the way, the City of West Park is already bankrupt and trying to figure out how to pay for police and fire. This does not even include the new tax cuts. Many cities such a Pembroke Pines have spent over tens of millions on community centers. If you think building community is a waste of money then let your mayor know about it. I agree that a lot of people are having a hard time paying the mortgage right now. How many realtors put people in new homes they really could' nt afford 3-5 years ago. Families foolishly entered into interest only APRs and now their payments are skyrocketing. I wonder who recommened this financing to them? It got them into a big house they really could'nt afford? Now everyone is screaming to the local government to help them out because they made a bad decision based on bad advise. How about we do a little research before we start sceaming "burn the witch, she's the reason for all your troubles". Finally Joe, looking at your last paragraph, it seems you've changed your mind on essential services. They are no longer essential and you are willing to look at cutting jobs. I assure you that not one single patient I help tells me we should cut back on firefighter/paramedics. It never enters their mind as it has entered yours. But then again, you probably are not drowing in your own fluids and hoping the medic who just walked in the door is going to help you live. Like an insurance policy, it's only pain in the butt premiums until you really need it. But then when you need it, thank God you have it. Also you did read correctly, "firefighter/paramedics". The average citizen has no idea that firefighters are also paramedics now in South Florida. You are getting two jobs covered for the price of one. So Joe, if your house catches fire, or you have a heart attack, I will be there for you each time......if I still have a job and I'm not busy on another call because of cut backs.

John, keep up the good work in spreading the word on this issue. Seems to me some folks just want to shoot the messenger instead of directing their concerns towards the politico's in Tallahassee. I don't think anyone who lives here in Florida needs to scour their city budgets to try and find waste or justify that it exists. We all know it does. And, the only people who brought this about are our legislators. I haven't seen any grass roots campaigns to put essential services at risk in order to cut real estate taxes, have you? The only way to change things is by being involved. Perhaps if more people took that attitude, we wouldn't be in this position. We should all work together to let the powers that be know that their solutions are not what the average homeowner in Florida wants or needs. Maybe if we start voting a few of the fools out of office they'd get the hint.

I think i said where it can come from, the county spent $50 million on a park that developers flipped to them hours after they got it. I believe their profit was over $10m. Next? comment edited by john sabia (user name)

fifty million and profit of over ten million for the developer, for some reason the numbers get deleted? comment edited by John Sabia (username)

I did not catch the first message with username shame on jeff before approving comments. I did change that users name to "message to jeff" for the additional comments. Jeff is entitled to his opinion and I think we can have a mature debate without "name calling".

10 million dollars saved on one blunder. We only have an additional 34 billion to go. By the way, can you give the park name and the company that sold it? I would like to check up on it. Also, I wonder what that 50 million dollar property is worth now? Maybe the county made a good investment. There is another county park (no name at present) located at SW 15 Ave and Davie Rd. I run with my dog there in the morning. Broward County purchased it for about 2 million around 5 years ago. 3 acres on the New River with over 200 feet of dock space. Would probably sell for 5 to 10 times that now to a developer. I guess I could ask the county to sell it for 10 million and stop wasting my 50 cents a month of tax dollars. On second thought, my dog really enjoys the park and they are hard to find downtown. I think I'll keep my mouth shut and spend the half dollar. Good investment though by the county. Will you be happy to see the Florida school system take a 7 billion dollar hit in January? Do you consider a teacher's salary to be a waste of tax payers money? Or will you respond the same saying they can't cut teachers, they are essential. Should we lower taxes at any cost? Should we consider a state tax to make up the diffence? Most states have a tax. Maybe we should do a little more thinking. The obvious problem with this tax cut is that it does'nt fix the problem. It still has people trapped in their existing home and unable to upgrade or even downgrade. And let's face it, 4 per month does'nt change anyone's life. So now you can take the family out to dinner 1 to 2 times a month. Again, let's do some more thinking. John, thanks for taking the insult off this blog. It really does'nt help the subject. I can see you sell in the downtown area. Maybe you know Eileene Sloan who sold me my house.

I posted another comment in response to Jeff and it is not showing up. Did it not get approved? Please let me know as I am new to forum postings. Thanks

Jeff: Yes, I know Eileen Sloan. Great agent and equally great person. Katarina: The only post I received is the one above. Please feel free to resubmit.

I can tell you where there is huge waste in Palm Beach County- the public school system. How much did it cost to build their extravagant buildings. I was in one last year and was appalled at the waste! They all get the fancy computers and the kids in the schools have to beg for computers! The teachers don't get paid well yet the board all get paid very well. They spend money buying super high priced real estate to build schools. The parents get lists of what they need to buy for the classroom down to ziplock bags and Kleenex. When I went to school my parents did not even have to buy a pencil for me. Everything was provided, we had all that we needed and there wasn't any lack. So why did that change? I have a great idea for these government bodies that do not know how to budget; get a mom who has at least 4 kids, is making it on one income and her kids are fed well, clothed, schooled, brought to and from activities, and she takes care of the household finances. Let her go in and put the school districts on a budget! You will see a balanced budget without waste! Jeff, I am afraid you are not being realistic. And as far as your comment about John just doing this to get real estate clients, well, good for him! What do you do to get customers, clients, or business for whatever business you are in? John is building relationships with his clients and prospects through his blog and that is the way business should be done. He is providing a service that his clients appreciate. Great discussion John!

How about Swerdlow and the port deal? 1 University Plaza - cost overruns almost doubled the price. the $45 million dollar property appraisers and elections office project that is still in limbo The park is a 100 acre park in lauderhill that the sun-sentinel dubbed a "$85m hole in the ground" How about the county is unable to get the new courthouse and government center started after endless money spent planning... should i go on?