Hillsborough County commissioners have decided to spend $801,000 to make a 3,500-acre preserve accessible to the public rather than not spending the money and risking having to pay back millions of dollars in state grants they have spent buying the land. ...more

December 19, 2007

Floridians favor the constitutional amendment promising property tax relief, but the 56 percent level of support is short of the 60 percent supermajority threshold now required to pass such a measure. ...more

November 16, 2007

Former Florida Senate President John McKay has proposed a plan that could cut property taxes up to 45 percent by eliminating sales tax exemptions that mostly benefit businesses. ...more

November 4, 2007

John Adams said, "Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty." His words reflect the principles that have guided the Florida Legislature through the process of bringing property tax relief to the people of our state. ...more

November 2, 2007

SEBRING — In 2005, when Gilbert Santavenere moved to Sebring from Connecticut, the taxes on his house were $2,200 a year. Since the previous owner had a homestead exemption, Santavenere expected the taxes to go up to $2,800. "It ended up being $3,500 a year," Santavenere said. In a nutshell, that's the problem with Florida's property tax system, something the Florida Legislature tried to correct Monday when it passed a constitutional amendment that will lower ad valorem taxes an average of $240 per homeowner. Voters can grant final approval of the bill on Jan. 29, at the same time they cast ballots in the presidential primary. The measure includes variations of two planks in Gov. Charlie Crist's campaign platform last year: doubling the $25,000 exemption for homeowners and letting them take the 3 percent Save Our Homes cap when they move. ...more

October 31, 2007

The House and Senate, although still at odds over property tax relief, will reconvene a special session Monday, just one day before the deadline to get a proposal on the Jan. 29 presidential primary ballot. ...more

October 28, 2007

The Legislature hopes to pass a property tax relief package at midweek and have the language on the Jan. 29 ballot as a constitutional amendment. ...more

October 14, 2007

Florida's budget could shrink by about $1.1 billion and college students may pay higher tuition because of legislation passed Friday in response to a shortfall in tax revenue blamed mainly on a housing slump. ...more

October 13, 2007

SEBRING — Raymond McIntyre is unwilling to speculate on exactly what the Florida Legislature might do later this week, but his best guess is that the superexemption proposal is politically dead, and that the governor's idea to double homestead exemptions is finally going to pass. ...more

October 11, 2007

They pitched the total elimination of the Florida property tax system as we know it. They tried to clamp down on local government spending. They offered a 'super' homestead exemption that could have slashed tax bills. ...more

October 11, 2007