What's On The Ballot?

SEBRING - If you think this ballot is complicated, you should have seen the first one. The super exemption, passed by the Legislature in June, would have offered voters a 75 percent exemption on their homes.

But a Leon County Circuit Judge declared the proposed constitutional amendment so misleading and confusing, he struck it from the Jan. 29 ballot.

So, Property Appraiser Raymond McIntyre told the Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Wednesday, now Floridians will vote Jan. 29 on a completely different - if only slightly less confusing - constitutional amendment.

It's got four provisions, McIntyre told the crowd, but they can't vote on them individually.

"It's an all or nothing vote," he said.

One audience member asked if McIntyre thought the Legislature would write a better constitutional amendment if this one didn't pass.

"I've thought about that," McIntyre said. But there's no guarantee the Legislature would act this year, and benefits may not accrue to taxpayers until 2010.

The Jan. 29 amendment, if passed, takes effect this year, so taxpayers will see smaller bills in November, McIntyre said.

"The key point is if millages stay the same," McIntyre said. The counties, cities and districts could increase the tax rate.

Mobile Homes

Three of the four provisions 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.

"We won't see it," said Ingler, who owns a mobile home but rents a lot in Buttonwood Bay, "but anyone who owns their own ground will get it."

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.

"If the park owner realizes a benefit, then according to state law, he has to pass it along to his residents," Ingler said. That means future lot rent could decrease.

"It could very well be that," Ingler said. "Of course, in the real world, that doesn't always happen."