State: Voters: Reduce taxes, not services

TALLAHASSEE -- Most Floridians are willing to give up government services in exchange for lower property taxes, a new poll shows, but not in sacred programs such as police, parks and health care.

As state lawmakers struggle to agree on how much property taxes should be lowered, public sentiment offers little clarity to help resolve the matter. The new survey says residents are even split on whether they would accept smaller local government payrolls in exchange for lower property taxes.

"They want their cake and eat it too. Is that so unusual?" said Peter Brown, assistant director of Quinnipiac University's Polling Institute, which conducted the poll.

Rep. Jack Seiler, one of two leading Democrats on the tax issue, didn't think so.

"There is not necessarily a connection between taxes and services," said Seiler of Wilton Manors. "When I talk to people at home, they say the same thing."

The results, surfacing less than a week before the start of a special legislative session, make up the first extensive statewide survey of public opinion on property tax cuts.

The poll of 1,174 registered voters by the Connecticut school was conducted May 29-June 4 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

Fifty-five percent said they would "in general" support tax cuts even if it meant cutbacks in services.

But when specific services were mentioned, support for tax cuts disappeared, with 85 percent opposing cuts in police and fire protection, 77 percent opposing cuts in public health clinics and 73 percent opposing cuts in libraries.

City and county leaders have repeatedly warned that tax reductions contemplated by legislators would force cuts in those programs.

The subject of property taxes has dominated the Florida media for several months, but the Quinnipiac survey suggests many people are paying scant attention.

Only 11 percent said they have heard "a great deal" about one proposal that would tie tax cuts to the average value of homes in a county. But a full 53 percent said they had heard "not much" or "nothing at all" about it.

That lack of information was reflected in incongruous results to two poll questions.

Asked whether local governments have done a good job balancing services and keeping taxes low, 71 percent said no and 22 percent said yes.

But more than half, 53 percent, trust local government more than state government to make the right spending decisions with taxpayer dollars 32 percent chose the state.

Seiler said the Republican-controlled Legislature had a chance this spring to reduce the level of property taxes needed to run public schools, but didn't do so. "We failed," he said. "That's the one area where we could have cut property taxes."

The poll showed tepid expectations for the upcoming session, with 53 percent calling it "very" or "somewhat" likely that lawmakers would "significantly" cut property taxes, and 43 percent saying it was "not too likely" or "not likely at all."

The poll also showed, as other surveys have, overwhelming support for Gov. Charlie Crist's performance in office, with 70 percent approving and 12 percent disapproving of his job in the first five months as governor.

In addition, 60 percent said they believe Crist makes decisions based on principle, not what is popular.

Sixty-nine percent of voters, however, said they believe "most public officials" make decisions based on what's popular.

"Those are pretty good numbers," Brown said of the Crist ratings. "I don't think there's a lot for him to be unhappy about."

Times staff writer Jennifer Liberto contributed to this report. Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or (850) 224-7263.

BY THE NUMBERS
1,174 Registered voters polled
55 Percent who support tax cuts even if services are cut
85 Percent opposing cuts in police and fire protection
77 Percent opposing cuts in public health clinics

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by Lindy	06/09/07 03:58 PM
City & countty gov'ts give away hundreds of thousnnds of $$ to "low income" people for down payments on condos, sometimes $60,000 each. I went through this when I lived in CA, the local gov'ts always threaten to take away essential services.

by Clay	06/08/07 12:37 AM
Eliminate water fluoridation. Fire Pick Talley. Cut commissioner and administrator salaries by $20,000 each. Those simple steps will save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. See how easy it is to find ways to lower taxes?

by joe	06/07/07 11:50 PM
Fire districts(independent)should be EXEMPT from any tax rollback, percentage, or any othe form of legislation. Their main source of revenue is advolorem real estate taxes. They do not get sales taxes,franchise tax, or any other form of taxes.

by Marcella	06/07/07 11:42 PM
The local governments had their chance to help taxpayers this past year by lowering millage rates and they wouldn't do it. They could have received the same $ amount as years prior and given taxpayers a break but they wouldn't budge. Cut the taxes!

by John	06/07/07 11:35 PM
What is clear is that FL voters are demanding substantial tax reduction. The other question are less meaningful because there were bias in the way it was asked. Let's just cut taxes substantially & then deal with how to divy it up.

by Shadrack	06/07/07 11:27 PM
People want services but no taxes. Logical outgrowth of buy now, pay later economy. Want low tax? Quit asking for dog parks,etc. Growth NEVER paid for itself and state forces counties to pay for state courts. State set minimum for police/fire pension

by Randy	06/07/07 10:19 PM
Don't people see that it is actually the big corporations who are taking our money! Look at gas prices, car prices, housing costs. Who benefits? Stockholders. It's too bad that the only thing the public can control is government.

by FR	06/07/07 09:10 PM
We aren't lacking parks, maintain only. No public vehicles for private use. Cut library hours by 2 hours each day. No new pet projects for a year (boat slips) while putting $ towards reserves. Help voters understand by showing ALL spending.

by Dan	06/07/07 04:42 PM
Oh, Kim, since you mentioned SPPD, you might also want to take into account that SPPD officers have to pay into their own retirement. And most of them have to work another job post retirement because $40,000 today won't be enough in 30 years.

by Dan	06/07/07 04:39 PM
Kim, let's start with the fact that your numbers are wrong (75 after 25 yrs). Beyond that, teaching is a low risk job. Very few teachers die each year on the job. However, so far in 2007, 81 police officers nationwide have died on duty. Wanna try it?

by donna	06/07/07 03:17 PM
Executive positions in Government make huge salaries, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The staff and outside workers make twenty to thirty thousand a year. Management should make more, but not 8 to 10 times more.

by Jim	06/07/07 02:46 PM
Cut taxes and spend them them wisely. They also need to be more fairly distributed. People who have recently moved are paying way more then people in much more valuable homes for the SAME services!

by Chuck	06/07/07 01:39 PM
STATE INCOME TAX.NOW IS THE TIME.Wake up and see the light.

by Chuck	06/07/07 01:36 PM
Gentleman Please just get a State Income Tax,and your prolems with cuts will be over with.Can't you see the light.Slap yourselfs and then say gee why didn't I think of that?

by JD	06/07/07 01:00 PM
What services and personnel have been added since 2003 in Pinellas? That's where we need to make cuts. Also, who paid for this survey? Were the questions slanted to obtain a biased response?

by Jim	06/07/07 12:04 PM
Why don't we offer a college course in accounting called "audit your government" and give credits to students to do efficency audits of local and state government operations. I support a scholarship for the one who can save the most tax dollars.

by Jim	06/07/07 12:01 PM
Local and state governments are overstaffed. Their benefits are not relative to private industry, and they thrive on waste. This is not about services, this is politicians and bureaucrats protecting their jobs and their political bases.

by Ron	06/07/07 11:35 AM
I don't feel the least bit sorry for any of the municipalities. They will all find ways to regain any tax money lost within weeks. You can bet that there will be an increase in all "fees" to make up for anything lost. Our wallets will get no relief.

by Joshu Jones	06/07/07 11:31 AM
Yeah, vote for a tax cut - the average person will get a few bucks and gutted local services, while the developers will get the incentive to build even more homes. And let's privatize everything and turn it over to Corps who don't give a dmn about us

by Barbara	06/07/07 11:26 AM
People are mad, but the solutions supplied by the legislature are not going to fix the problem. They're short-sighted and designed for re-election.

by Kitty	06/07/07 10:43 AM
Dee, how do you "cut a little bit everywhere" in a two-person operation?

by Bob	06/07/07 10:16 AM
Why not property taxes for churches and other religious (?) based organizations?. Most own huge estates and use the same services as other property owners. Their house of worship is just a small plot on otherwise enormous land reserves. End the joke!

by JM	06/07/07 10:05 AM
I think all the politicians should take a cut in pay.Why don't they tighten their budgets.Do away with state owned cars let them use there own car and pay for their own gas.I also feel we should cut back on all the building especially all the Walmart

by George	06/07/07 10:01 AM
Why are we being taxed for governments to build up huge reserves? This article ignores the true use of the exorbitant tax increase over the last 5 years. Governments are hording and spending like drunken sailors. What was wrong with 2000 Services

by Eric	06/07/07 09:57 AM
Penny for pinellas... They scared all the workers into voting for it.. There should be some legal ramifications against doing this type of thing.

by Eric	06/07/07 09:56 AM
This is pretty sad. My wife works for the county. All the big wigs get high pay increases every year. At her job they are threatening them with No PAy raises and other things. If they don't vote the way they want them too.Same was done with the Penny

by mikey	06/07/07 09:54 AM
When politicians try to scare us with cuts in police, fire, medical, and schools,what they are really saying is"We don't want to cut out the "pork" that keeps getting us elected! It's time to do the "right" thing and put the citizens first!!

by Kitty	06/07/07 09:48 AM
money on bringing their facilities into the 21st century, and providing services demanded by those relocating to the area. Remember, while St. Pete may be "built out", many poor residents were displaced to make way for million dollar condos.

by Kitty	06/07/07 09:46 AM
Jacque, while growing counties do need addt'l services, old, outgrown counties like Pinellas need infrastructure upgrades and replacements. Contrary to popular belief, cities didn't "spend like drunken sailors" in the last few years. They spent the

by Ray	06/07/07 09:32 AM
The people want cities to cut everything except police, fire, parks, streets, libraries and other essential services. What else is there to cut? That's all cities do. You people are dreaming if you think there is something else out there to cut.

by George	06/07/07 09:30 AM
Why are we being taxed for governments to build up huge reserves? This article ignores the true use of the exorbitant tax increase over the last 5 years. Governments are hording and spending like drunken sailors. What was wrong with 2000 Services

by Simon	06/07/07 09:22 AM
These people need to go back to a zero base and build their budgets. They should not be randomly adding X percentage to whatever they had the previous year.

by Paul	06/07/07 09:19 AM
What happened to all those damm pennies in the Penny For Pinellas tax?? Use THAT money as it clearly seems to be sugar coating. So what if our parks dont' have perfect grass, fork over the pennies. So what? Lower my damm taxes is what!

by Brittany	06/07/07 09:07 AM
Obviously this poll shows that most of the people crying about high property taxes have no clue that their taxes are spent on those services that they dont want cut (the poll says). Its the herd mentality reaction to prop.taxes-not logical thought.

by Bob	06/07/07 09:01 AM
The middle class should be pulling together and fighting to get our share of the pie back. Police, teachers, gov. employees, construction workers... TAKE BACK THE MONEY FROM THE WEATHY 1%, STAND TOGETHER. DON'T ATTACK EACH OTHER.

Politics

Voters: Reduce taxes, not services

But which services to cut in exchange for lower property rates is unclear, a poll finds.