May 23, 2007

The Florida Association of Counties (FAC) has published a 22-page playbook for local governments with

the purpose of delaying or eliminating any chance of property tax relief this year.

The rhetoric and tactics suggested in the manual are telling, since there is no mention anywhere in the

manual about the FAC’s plan for property tax relief.

There is no mention of the FAC’s plan for property tax relief because the FAC has been consistent in

opposing any meaningful efforts to cut property taxes on Floridians.

Instead of producing a 22-page manual instructing FAC members on how to sell their solution to Florida’s

Property Tax Crisis, their single aim seems to be obstruction, hoping that their desperate public relations

campaign may frighten enough citizens and legislators into inaction this year. They are going so far as to

So if you are seeing

then you are seeing the FAC playbook being executed play-by-play by your local government.

We have provided this document which seeks to answer and rebut the central talking points being

distributed by the FAC to their members.

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Remember these facts in your discussion of property tax relief:

As part of their playbook, Florida Association of County (FAC) members received a two-page document

titled “Key messages: 2007 Florida Legislative Session.” What follows is a brief guide for how to rebut the

messages and the rationale behind our rebuttal to their messages.

It is clear that after their inability during regular session to convince the legislature that property tax cuts

were unwise, local governments have mounted a renewed public relations campaign going into June’s

special session. Scare tactics, like the ones being employed by the FAC and other local government

lobbying groups are solely aimed to erode support for even the most popular, well thought out and

reasoned policies. The FAC is encouraging all of its 67 counties to “speak with one voice in framing this

debate.”

Unlike local governments, we are not spending the millions of dollars trying to influence the amount of

property tax cuts for Floridians, but we do have the benefit of being on the right side of reason and the

issue. We are fighting for responsible and property tax relief. The FAC is fighting against property tax relief.

They have the harder message to sell.

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From pages 11-13 of the FAC Playbook:

The four initial key messages for Florida’s counties for the 2007 legislative session are:

been spent responsibly. Proposed cuts will impact REAL local services such as deputies, emergency

management as well as social services.

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• Proposals in the Florida Legislature would spark a second crisis by eliminating hundreds of millions of

dollars in funding for essential county programs and services that our citizens demand and depend on.

• County governments have provided property tax relief to citizens. In 2006, two-thirds of

Florida’s 67 counties reduced millage rates, resulting in more than $500 million in savings to taxpayers. In

2005, nearly half of the counties reduced millage rates, result in $185 million in savings to taxpayers. (Insert

local savings examples here.)

misleading.

on rising property values. The net result has been massive property tax increases. Since In just the

past five years, local governments have increased their property tax revenues almost 84%. Since 2000

that increase is almost 100%. And since 1996, local government property tax revenue increased

148%.

of local government waste in cities and counties throughout Florida. Local government can afford to

trim costs and return excess property tax revenue to Florida’s taxpayers.

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have been spent responsibly. Proposed cuts will impact REAL local services such as deputies, emergency

management as well as social services.

• County governments play an increasingly important role in the lives of citizens as our population grows,

citizens seek a higher quality of life, and federal and state governments push more responsibility for paying

for programs onto counties.

• Proposed cuts in Tallahassee would impact urban and rural counties in vastly different ways but one thing

is clear – many proposals offer cuts deep enough to dramatically affect law enforcement and other public

safety programs.

• Beyond basic services and mandates, citizens also look to counties to provide a range of other services

that add to quality of life in Florida’s communities. For example, counties provide their citizens with basic

utilities, public transportation, parks, libraries, and other infrastructure.

Floridians see government waste firsthand, day after day, and they know efficiencies can be made.

and Federal Government also provide billions of dollars in funding for local programs, including

healthcare, courts, criminal justice, homeland security, and education.

Instead of investing the time and energy into finding efficiencies that can be made at the local level,

they are using taxpayer dollars to create a manual to obstruct and oppose tax relief.

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• Between 2001 and 2006, Florida’s counties saw a 68 percent growth statewide in property tax revenues.

What happened to this money? About 34 percent of county spending was directly attributable to population

growth and inflation (both rose 17 percent), and included required infrastructure improvements. The rest of

the spending was concentrated in five large budget categories: law enforcement, corrections, general

government, parks, and health and human services.

• Like many private businesses, counties are also seeing expenses in areas such as employee health

insurance, pension obligations, fuel costs, construction and property insurance that are rising faster than

the Consumer Price Index.

explanation for where taxpayer dollars go each year – the economist admitted during a committee

meeting that he failed to examine local government waste as one of the contributing factors for

increased property tax revenues.

accountable to taxpayers, and the taxpayers can no longer afford the largesse of local government.

of growth is that it should permit local government to achieve economies of scale. Government that is

growing at more than twice the rate of personal income and population is not operating efficiently.

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• Florida’s counties support all citizens across our state every day and must have a seat at the table in

resolving the current property tax dilemma.

• We support reasonable limits on property tax assessment increases, but oppose any state-mandated

caps on county revenue or spending. Florida’s citizens want tax and spending decisions made locally—they

don’t want a “one size fits all” solution on property taxes handed down from Tallahassee that will make

things worse.

• We support relief for businesses by providing a $25,000 exemption per taxpayer on Tangible Personal

Property Taxes.

• We support an annual assessment limit of 10 percent on all non-homestead properties with revaluation

upon change of ownership or use of the property. A 10 percent cap will even-out assessments and taxes

over time. A lower cap would be inequitable to newcomers to Florida, including new businesses.

• We also support and encourage decisions made by individual County Commissions— such as the recent

actions in Hillsborough, Sarasota, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties— to debate and implement selfimposed

revenue or spending caps. This is the essence of “home rule”— local government, not

Tallahassee, knows best what local citizens want and is in the best position to make such decisions.

• While recognizing our citizens need property tax relief, we believe any major statewide changes to the

property tax system should be considered by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission— not rushed to

voters as a special election ballot. The Tax and Budget Reform Commission was approved by Florida

voters and created in the state constitution to do a comprehensive review of our state’s tax and budget

policies. A special election would preempt the work of this commission.

pieces for Florida’s newspapers which included the statement, “we cannot accept tens of billions of

dollars in state-mandated [property tax] cuts.” Even the most modest property tax cut plan proposed by

the Senate, which offered a modest 5-year, $10 billion dollar cut, was unacceptable to Ms. Latvala and

the Florida Association of Counties.

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sincerely working toward a solution which will significantly reduce property taxes throughout Florida this

year. Unfortunately for the Floridians they represent, local governments’ voices in Tallahassee have

spent the last three months completely opposed to any real, substantive tax relief.

mind. The Florida House wants to cut property taxes as much as possible; the Florida Association of

Counties wants to oppose property tax cuts as much as possible.