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Highlands Today

Election Tuesday

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: January 27, 2008

SEBRING — To citizens who have been told their votes on Tuesday won't count, vote anyway.

First, the chairs of Highlands County's two political parties agree: Floridians will have a voice into who leads our nation for the next four years.

Second, there's a tax cut on the Jan. 29 ballot that will decide how homeowners, mobile home owners, farmers and businesses will be taxed, affecting them all perhaps decades into the future.

Presidential Primary

Because Florida held its primary a week earlier than the national GOP and Democratic parties wanted, the national chairmen have said they won't seat Florida delegates. Don't believe that, local and state chairmen have insisted.

"I believe our nominee will need the enthusiastic support of Democrats in these states to win the general election," Sen. Hillary Clinton said, "and so I will ask my Democratic convention delegates to support seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan."

Whoever the nominees are in either party, they won't want to risk offending the largest swing state in the Union, said Highlands County Democratic Chairman Pat Hogan.

"They'll seat the Republican delegation," predicted Justine Devlin, the Highlands County GOP chair.

Constitutional Amendment

In 1992, voters passed Save Our Homes, which capped future property tax assessments at 3 percent. Intended as a way to keep the disabled and elderly from losing their homes to high taxes when property values zoomed up drastically, the system instead created great inequities. For instance, a neighbor who bought his $100,000 home in 1992 may pay a few hundred dollars in property taxes; a second neighbor with an identical house on the same block may pay several thousands of dollars in taxes.

The 2008 constitutional amendment will exaggerate that problem, Highlands County Property Appraiser Raymond McIntyre told the Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon.

And Amendment 1 2008 will also add another class of exemptions and a cap on farm property, business property, and mobile home properties.

State Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Lake Placid, is voting for it anyway.

"I don't believe it goes far enough," said Grimsley, "I think it will have minimal effect on the economy. Because Highlands County is a fiscally constrained county, the state will be returning lost revenue to them."

According to McIntyre's calculations, Avon Park would lose $194,255, Lake Placid $44,484, Sebring $286,571, County Schools $845,523 and Highlands County $5,506,228.

Mike Averyt, director of business and operations for the School Board of Highlands County, said figures from the State Florida show the schools will lose $1.4 million the first year Amendment 1 is passed, and an estimated $4.3 million in 2012.

"I've already voted against it," said Superintendent of Schools Wally Cox. "It will negatively affect the capital budget, which means the school would not acquire new technology, and it would squeeze the building program."

Schools will be hurt a second and third way. Home values have dipped in 2006 and 2007, Cox said, and the poor economy is reducing sales tax collections. Schools get a portion of the sales taxes collected by the state.

Whom It Helps

McIntyre estimated the average homeowner will save $240 per year on property taxes.

Two of the four provisions in Amendment 1 will help mobile home owners, said Rick Ingler, District 6 president of Federation of Manufactured Homeowners of Florida.

The first provision, which increases the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000, is available for mobile home occupants who also own their land. Provision three, which grants a $25,000 exemption from personal property taxes for businesses and farms, also applies to mobile home attachments, said McIntyre and Ingler. That includes attached carports, rooms and garages.

Provision four caps future tax hikes to 10 percent on non-homesteaded property — businesses, farms and mobile home property. That includes mobile home parks.

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