SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – As the special legislative session on property taxes commenced in Tallahassee on Monday, local government officials were closely monitoring the proceedings with keen interest.
“We’re just hoping that sound minds prevail,” remarked J.R. Kroll, the Seminole County Tax Collector, expressing a sentiment shared by many.
Kroll explained that he is “not a big fan” of Governor Ron DeSantis’ proposed property tax reform, known as ‘Save Our Homes.’ This initiative aims to increase the homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and then to $250,000 in 2028.
David Johnson, the Seminole County Property Appraiser, voiced concerns, stating, “If this proposal passes, I think the counties, cities, and school boards will need to explore alternative taxation methods.”
Johnson presented data to News 6, indicating that the governor’s plan would result in a $409 million dip in revenue over two years.
Local governments heavily depend on property tax revenues to support vital services, including police and fire departments.
In Seminole County, 40% of the taxable value is attributable to homesteaded properties, according to Johnson’s data.
“We’re a bedroom community of Orlando,” Kroll said, stressing the importance of property tax revenue generated from homestead properties. “So we are the suburbs. We have mostly residential homes.”
Kroll suggested that if the governor’s proposal passes, local governments might be forced to increase a sales tax or a non-ad valorem tax in order to make up for the lost revenue.
He also said governments may opt to cut spending.
“We have secondary things like the Lynx buses, the Scout (rideshare service), veteran services,” Kroll noted. “Anything that you would have in Seminole County that’s currently being paid by with those taxes would now have to be put possibly on the chopping block.”
DeSantis’ proposal does include the establishment of a trust fund that local communities could use to pay for critical services.
“What this means is that they’re going to have to go to the state every year to fund basic services,” said Jeff Brandes.
Brandes, a former Republican state senator and the president of the Florida Policy Project, has been a vocal critic of the property tax plan.
“The fact that we’re going to fundamentally rewrite Florida’s property tax system in a 72 hour special session with no data, modeling, or experts telling us that this is the right thing to do is the height of insanity of Florida politics,” Brandes said.
Brandes said if a proposal does pass the legislature, he hopes it includes a sunset provision.
“You don’t know how this is gonna play out,” Brandes said. “It needs a fail safe mechanism in case this thing turns out to be a burning dumpster fire, which is my concern.”
DeSantis, meanwhile, has continued to tout ‘Save Our Homes,’ taking to X several times over the weekend and into Monday to champion the proposal. In one post, he argued that local governments’ revenue have ballooned in recent years.
“Local governments took $32 billion in property taxes in 2019,” DeSantis wrote. “Today, they are taking $60 billion. Meanwhile, at the state level, Florida has reduced spending four years in a row–even though we’ve had both inflation and population growth. Exempting homesteads can be done. And it will help millions of Floridians.”
