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Beneath anger are desperate residents

It's not that they like yelling at the County Commission. Many are just at wits' end over increasing property tax bills.

By ASJYLYN LODER
Published September 17, 2006

Gone are the days of brief, sparsely attended budget hearings.

It used to be that county commissioners could vote on a multimillion-dollar budget in peace and quiet.

Not anymore.

"I would be here this year," said a weary Tom Hogan, who was recently appointed to the Hernando County Commission, just in time for the budget hearings.

In a scene that has been repeated around the state, emotional spectators crowded into commission chambers in Citrus and Hernando counties Thursday night to demand a tax cut.

Angry throngs complained that it costs more to fill their gas tanks, feed their families and insure their homes. Topping it off, ballooning property assessments mean swollen tax bills. With household budgets strained to the breaking point, residents looked to local governments for relief.

In Citrus County, commissioners voted 4-0 to approve a 1-mill cut, equal to $1 of tax for every $1,000 in taxable, assessed value.

Angry residents had already forced a lower millage rate out of the Citrus County School Board. The Tampa City Council voted 4-2 to lower its tax rate for the first time in two decades, by .131 mill. Hillsborough plans to cut by .39 mill and might go deeper after protests from residents.

"They have hard times," Hogan said. "And this increased tax bill is just the straw that broke the camel's back. It's an emotional thing."

Resident Dan Patrick told the Hernando County Commission that he has an office, a home and 17 acres. The value of his property skyrocketed in recent years, leaving him with a $31,000 tax bill.

"How would you like to pay them kind of taxes?" he said.

Patrick joined more than 100 spectators who overflowed Hernando County's budget hearing Thursday night, cheering calls for deep tax cuts and booing one woman who said it is not the time to lower taxes.

Emotional residents, some near tears, crowded the microphone to harangue the commissioners.

It worked.

Commissioners voted 3-2 to give the preliminary okay for a half-mill reduction that was first approved Sept. 8. That's 50 cents for every $1,000 in assessed value. The average homeowner would save $36.09, and it would cost the county $4.7-million next year.

Commission Chairwoman Diane Rowden, a Democrat and an opponent of the cut, said most of the crowd answered a call to action by Republicans and the cajoling of conservative radio talk show host Bob Haa.

But the naked desperation was hard to ignore.

Elsie Howell said she had to decide between buying a loaf of bread or paying her taxes.

Joseph Jordan demanded: "Where do I cut? Do I not eat? Do I quit taking medication?"

County property owners will pay $6.74 for every $1,000 in taxable assessed value if the half-mill reduction is approved at the final budget hearing Sept. 28.

That money funds the county's operating budget. In addition, county taxpayers pay nearly $1.88 for every $1,000 in taxable value for a handful of other funds set aside to fund the repair and building of roads, preservation of environmentally sensitive lands, emergency medical services, the county Health Department and a stormwater management program.

By contrast, the schools take nearly $8.19 for every $1,000 in taxable value. Residents of Brooksville pay an additional $7.50 for every $1,000 in taxable value to bankroll city operations.

The County Commission has no control over those taxes.

The county's rate cut threatened some renovations at the Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Richard Nugent had asked for $512,000 to pay for the headquarters' renovations and to build a pole barn to house supplies.

When the county could not pay for it, Nugent proposed spending money that his department had left over because it didn't hire as many deputies as he had hoped and hasn't yet had to cope with a hurricane this year.

Rowden sympathized with homeowners' increasing burdens, she said, but "I have nothing to do with the price of insurance. I have nothing to do with the price of their electric bill. My own electric bill is going up, too."

The tax cut could wipe out the county's reserves within four years, forcing it into debt at the same time that it's facing rising costs for road work and expensive capital improvements, such as renovating the old Brooksville Regional Hospital, she said.

The commission controls approximately one-half of a tax bill but bears the brunt of taxpayer outrage, Rowden said.

"They never say anything about the School Board," she said.

"For some reason, we seem to be in the cross hairs when it comes to spending money locally," said Commissioner Jeff Stabins, a Republican who voted for the tax rate reduction. "And that's fine. We're doing the best we can with what we can control."

Times staff writer Jonathan Abel contributed to this report. Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or 352 754-6127.

[Last modified September 17, 2006, 07:10:32]