Tampa quietly approves a much reduced budget

The smaller budget and a tax rate cut by 10 percent stem from a state mandate.

By Times Staff Writer
Published September 20, 2007

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TAMPA - The Tampa City Council on Wednesday approved Mayor Pam Iorio's $761-million budget and set the city's property tax rate 10 percent lower than last year's.

The lower tax rate, 5.7326 mills, was prompted by state legislative action that required governments to roll back taxes.

The city was forced to cut $20-million from its proposed budget this year to meet the state mandate. Unlike last year, the hearing to pass the budget wasn't controversial, and council members voted with little discussion.

But council member Linda Saul-Sena urged her colleagues to lobby against the super homestead exemption referendum set for Jan. 29, where voters will decide whether to give themselves the option to reduce their tax burden further.

She said cutting this year's budget "has been extremely painful" and that further cuts resulting from the passage of the referendum would be "wretched" and force severe reductions in city services.

A mill is $1 in tax per $1,000 in taxable property value.