 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Inverness supports county in tax fight
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- It is like the dilemma of the glass that is half full or half empty. Does Heron Woods serve a charitable purpose by providing 38 rental houses to low-income residents at the north end of Inverness? Or does the complex add to the demand for taxpayer-funded schools, streetlights and city garbage service? In reality, Heron Woods does both -- and that leaves the developer at odds with city and county officials over whether it should pay property taxes. Florida Low Income Housing, the nonprofit organization that developed Heron Woods, applied for tax-exempt status for those 38 rentals this year, but Property Appraiser Ron Schultz turned the group down. Both sides will argue their case next week before a "special master," who will help determine whether Schultz's decision should stand. Altogether the units are valued at $2.28-million, said Melanie Hensley, chief deputy property appraiser. That translates into $19,972 in school taxes, $19,536 in county taxes and $13,338 in Inverness taxes. "This is not a simple one," Schultz said. "This is one of those things that's got multiple shades of gray. "There's no doubt they greatly benefit the people who live in them, but the bulk of government still has to provide the services," he said. "That causes a problem for local government that has to provide water, sewer, police, schools." But the law seems pretty clear-cut to Beth Daniels, the Clearwater attorney representing Florida Low Income Housing. In 1999, the Legislature created a specific property tax exemption for low-income housing in certain conditions. The complex must be completely owned by a nonprofit, charitable group, and the residents must qualify as "low income," meaning they earn less than 80 percent of the local median income. Daniels said Heron Woods fits that description to the letter. "I think it's up to the Legislature to decide what is a nonprofit, charitable activity, and apparently they've decided providing clean, decent housing for low-income people in Florida is one of those," Daniels said. "If they can't get the exemption . . . it would just make it more difficult to deliver to the end user at the affordable price that they're seeking to do," she added. Although the homes were built with the help of state grants and other incentives, Schultz said, there are also investors earning a return on the bank dollars loaned to build the community. Charging taxes means taking a bite out of those investors' returns, he said. "It becomes very easy for the federal government to create programs that they don't have to pay for," Schultz said. "They just say, oh, we'll give you tax credits, and local government, you pick up the tab of supplying the services. "And my philosophical position on this one is since property taxes do not impact the rent that is going to be charged, it's not an issue that these poor people are going to have to pay more rent," he said. "It's just a question of how much return goes back up stream to the investors getting the tax credits and incentives." Schultz and Daniels have debated this before. Last year Schultz denied a request for tax-exempt status on Heron Woods' recreation center. Following the recommendation of the special master, the county's Value Adjustment Board overruled Schultz and granted the exemption. This year Schultz gave the exemption to the recreation center, but not to the 38 rental units that had been built over the past year. "I don't get it," Daniels said. "If you pass one, why aren't you passing the other?" Schultz said the two fall under separate exemptions. When Schultz goes before Special Master Herbert E. Langford Jr. on Wednesday to defend his decision, he will have the City of Inverness as his ally. City officials say they should receive the tax dollars for the services they must provide to Heron Woods, such as garbage, streetlights and police. They voted Tuesday evening to voice their support of Schultz at next week's hearing. "You have a cost," City Manager Frank DiGiovanni told the council members. "It's not that people come in and it's a negligible situation. We're going to pay. The citizens of Inverness are going to pay." "The only charitable thing would be us giving them free garbage . . . and that's wrong," said council member Jacquie Hepfer. -- Bridget Hall Grumet can be reached at 860-7303 or bhall@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
Citrus Times Letters |
