Florida’s Constitution is not meant to be a political plaything, dangled as ballot bait and larded with misleading promises. Proposed amendments should not be rammed through the Legislature in a few days’ time — the same Legislature that has made it all but impossible for anyone outside the Tallahassee power centers to propose any amendments to the constitution. And if the Legislature messes up the wording of a proposed amendment so badly that a judge has to strike it from the ballot, it should fall to the Legislature to fix in open session — not re-written behind closed doors by a governor and attorney general from the executive branch, who have no constitutional authority to write amendments at all.
But this is Florida, where the people are constrained and cuffed while lawmakers, the governor and the elected Cabinet members grant themselves the freedom to do almost anything they please.
There is no greater example of that than Amendment 3, also known as the property tax amendment. If voters approve in November, this measure could hike the state’s homestead exemption over the period of a few years, to the point where residential properties are only taxed for schools.
The impact of this would hit local governments like a neutron bomb. Over the course of five years, Amendment 3 would chop nearly $46 billion from the budgets of cities and counties across the state. As a result, almost every local government would face hellish decisions — weighing cuts to emergency services like police and fire against libraries, recreational programs and senior centers.
Many cities and counties would become dependent on the good will of Tallahassee lawmakers — and anyone who thinks legislators don’t play favorites hasn’t been paying attention. In the meantime, a large number of Florida residents and businesses would reap no benefit from this amendment at all. In fact, they’re likely to suffer as local leaders increase rates to keep alive the programs their voters expect.
None of this information appears on the ballot. Instead, legislators wrote themselves a tidy little political come-on. The deception starts with the title: “Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes.” There are two assumptions there: That this amendment would save homes (there’s no guarantee of that) and that all cities and counties across the state levy “excessive” taxes. (That’s a deception built on a bigger lie, as noted in Saturday’s editorial: For more than a year, Blaise Ingoglia — who is currently serving as Florida’s chief financial officer — has been trotting around the state using bad math and unsupported allegations to accuse local leaders of wasteful spending, though he rarely identifies a single example of waste.)
The amendment goes on to promise that it is “ensuring funding for core services” (It does no such thing) while “protecting small businesses” (this is so far from the truth that it might as well have said “protecting circus elephants”) and “ensuring fairness for Florida residents” (well, except for the nearly 35% of Florida households who don’t own their homes).
Earlier this month, a judge said the entire mess was too misleading to put before voters. Instead, Leon County Circuit Judge David Frank ordered a rewrite — a job that, oddly enough, does not fall to the lawmakers who put the amendment on the ballot in the first place. Instead, legislators passed a law giving the state’s attorney general 10 days to produce better language. That means James Uthmeier, another unelected official whom DeSantis appointed to fill U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody’s unexpired term.
We’re wondering where lawmakers got the constitutional authority to hand off such a monumental task to a man who, in this case, has yet to be elected to any public office in Florida.
We will say this: Compared to the misleading, overstated rhetoric of the original. Uthmeier’s summary is dry and factual. But it doesn’t even try to warn Florida voters of the consequences of this vote.
Fortunately, there are other voices speaking up — and good reason to think that voters are listening.
City and county leaders have been sounding the alarm about this amendment for months — warnings that echo through conservative as well as liberal counties.
Friday, another respected voice launched its own response. Florida TaxWatch, an organization known for keeping a sharp eye on overspending, has a new website that breaks down the fiscal impact of Amendment 3 in ways that are fair and factual — unlike Ingoglia’s fictional claims. According to the Florida Property Tax Resource Center (TaxWatch’s new initiative at PropertyTaxFL.org), Orange County would lose more than $2.8 billion over the first five years if Amendment 3 passes. Osceola, Seminole and Lake County would lose more than $900 million each.
In a press conference Friday, Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Jeff Kottkamp made it clear that he thinks some cuts in property taxes would be justified. But he was rightly critical of the process DeSantis and lawmakers used to stampede the amendment out the door.
Next year, he said, Florida’s Taxation and Budget Reform Commission (which performs a constitutionally mandated top-down look at the state’s finances) is set to meet. Voting “no” on the amendment in November, then waiting for that group — which will probably hold extensive public hearings before announcing its findings — is the best course of action, he says.
We agree, with one caveat: The commission should pierce through the puffery and deception. Take a look at who is spending tax money responsibly — on ballfields, water-quality projects, help for victims of crime, no-kill animal shelters and other popular priorities — and who is being wasteful. Has a county government spent any tax dollars recently on flying refugees from Texas to Connecticut? How about suing the NCAA because FSU didn’t make the playoffs? Or building a detention center for federal prisoners in the middle of the Everglades?
Some Florida homeowners might believe they are due another property-tax break. But they deserve to know what they might lose if that happens — in numbers they can trust.