Politics

Senate holds up progress on property taxes

By leaving till next week, they hope to force acceptance of their tax plan.

By ALEX LEARY and STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff Writers
Published October 25, 2007

A grim-faced Gov. Charlie Crist reacts to reporters questions about the impasse on property tax legislation in the Legislature as he heads to a meeting at the Capitol on Wednesday morning. Visible in the background is Crist's chief of staff, George LeMieux.
	[Scott Keeler | Times]

TALLAHASSEE -- Bolstered by a new poll, members of the Florida Senate on Wednesday took a hard-line approach toward ending a stalemate with the House over property taxes: They stayed home.

Refusing to come back to work until Monday, Senate leaders left just one day to meet a deadline for fashioning a new deal with the House -- an intense timetable that will apply pressure or derail the process and scuttle relief until 2009.

The Senate hopes its keep-it-simple approach ultimately will win out, and it got unexpected support from a poll released Wednesday.

The independent Quinnipiac University survey showed 74 percent approval for doubling the homestead exemption and 57 percent approval for allowing people to carry accrued Save Our Homes benefits when they move.

Both ideas were embraced by Gov. Charlie Crist in his campaign last year and are cornerstones of the Senate plan.

The House has pushed for broader tax relief and says the Senate fails to help businesses and snowbirds, those most hurt by the recent run-up in values.

The two chambers now must break the stalemate and reach a deal by the scheduled end of their special session Monday, which was set to meet a deadline to get a tax cut package on the Jan. 29 presidential primary ballot.

Negotiators will spend the next four days largely out of public view, trying to find common ground.

If they cannot agree, a new tax plan will likely not appear until the November 2008 general election ballot and the cuts would not show up in bills until the following year.

Crist played for extra time Wednesday. While the session officially ends Monday night, Crist noted that the ballot language does not have to be in the hands of elections officials until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.

"I think it's going to work out," he said. "Am I disappointed? No, I'm not disappointed. I'm patient."

But stretching things out is not in Senate President Ken Pruitt's best interests if he wants to force the House to bend.

Though he has asked staff to analyze the House plan, the Port St. Lucie Republican said any deal must "minimize any negative impact to education" and "be understood and accepted by Florida voters."

With that, Pruitt amplified the Senate's approach of simpler is better. After the Legislature's original "super" homestead exemption plan was tossed from the ballot by a judge who ruled it misleading, senators insisted on a plan that is easy to understand and can gain the required 60 percent approval at the polls.

The House complicated that game plan when it added two new items to the mix:

• A proposal from Democrats that replaces the $50,000 homestead exemption and the break for new home buyers with an exemption for everyone worth 40 percent of the median home value in a county.
• A 5 percent cap on annual assessment increases for nonhomestead properties.

Both Republicans and Democrats say the revamped approach to the homestead exemption is fairer and gives more relief to lower and middle income homeowners. Those at the top, they say, benefit from Save Our Homes portability.

"It's hard to dispute it's not better policy," said Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach. "But it's clearly not as simple and, therefore, probably as popular until people study it."

The new House provisions came too late to be addressed in the Quinnipiac poll. Yet the 5 percent assessment cap has been enthusiastically embraced by powerful business interests.

Initially agitated by Pruitt's seeming brinkmanship, House Republicans took a more deliberative view Wednesday afternoon.

"I'm still confident we're on a good path," said Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, the lead House negotiator.

He would not speculate on two possible changes that could lead to a deal: excluding schools from the House's 5 percent cap on assessments on nonhomestead property; and changing, if not killing, the median home value approach to a homestead exemption.

A primary concern about the cap is its impact on public schools. Because school taxes make up about 40 percent of an overall tax bill, the cap could take an estimated $6-billion to $9-billion from schools over 10 years.

Some senators consider that a deal breaker. But even excluding schools from the tax break would not satisfy everyone.

"Everyone is focusing on schools but this has a huge impact on cities and counties and that's problematic," said Sen. Steve Geller, D-Coooper City, the Democratic leader.

House Republicans think the cap is a vital component. Protection for nonhomestead property would level the playing field, they say, because homesteaders have been shielded for years due to the 3 percent Save Our Homes cap.

* * *

The Florida Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments Dec. 3 on the state's appeal of a decision striking down a previous super homestead exemption tax proposal as misleading and confusing. "

If the state wins the appeal, and the Legislature agrees next week to put a new proposal on the ballot, "you could actually have competing proposals on the ballot," said Sandi Copes, a spokeswoman for the attorney general.

[Last modified October 25, 2007, 00:08:10]