Property Tax Debate
Local governments are weighing raising fees or cutting services to make up for the potential loss of revenue, as Florida lawmakers consider eliminating or reducing property taxes. The change would impact homeowners and renters. The revenue pays for public safety, parks, schools, and other services people rely on every day.
At this point, there’s no final plan from lawmakers, and Governor Ron DeSantis hasn’t set a timeline for a special session on the issue. The idea that has moved the furthest so far in the Legislature is a proposal passed by the House of Representatives that would end non-school property taxes on primary homes. That House bill includes provisions to protect funding for public safety services like law enforcement. While the House passed the legislation, the Senate did not take it up, and members of that GOP led legislative body have said it doesn’t go far enough. Any final plan from the full Legislature and governor would have to be put on the ballot and approved by 60% of voters.
Local governments are already thinking about the potential impact. T. Michael Stavres, City Manager for Winter Haven, talks about what’s at stake if property taxes are reduced or eliminated.
If the revenue goes away, local governments will have to make it up somehow. Esteban Santis, Director of Research at Florida Policy Institute, says the impact would not be evenly distributed.
Supporters of cutting property taxes say homeowners are paying too much. While speaking at Palm Beach Atlantic University at the end of March, Governor Ron DeSantis talked about rising property values and higher tax revenues driving the push for change. The Governor also talked about phasing out taxes on homesteaded homes over time and the idea of grants to help local governments with the transition.
Supporters of changing the tax system say there are different ways to limit how quickly property taxes grow. Doug Wheeler, Director of the George Gibbs Center for Economic Prosperity at the James Madison Institute, discusses those approaches and the results of their most recent polling asking Floridians about property tax reform.
AI Data Center Concerns
Data centers are facilities that store and process much of the data that powers the internet from websites and personal data to shared media content and even the information used by “smart” devices and appliances. As AI applications grow, so does demand for storage and computing power.
Last week, the Brevard County Commission voted unanimously to ban any property tax abatements or exemptions for data center developers to build new centers in the coastal county. Commissioner Katie Delaney discusses bringing the ordinance to the table.
The centers are popping up in several states, but in some communities, residents are raising concerns about the centers using essential resources like water for cooling and regional power supplies. There are also concerns that demand could drive up energy costs in those communities. Some residents complain the facilities generate a loud hum, creating a persistent noise permeating nearby homes. Stel Bailey is a lifelong Brevard County resident. As the Executive Director of Fight for Zero, a nonprofit organization focused on preserving the environmental health of Central Florida’s East Coast, she doesn’t see how data centers could contribute to preserving the region’s environment.
On the other side of the coin is the data industry. There are roughly 4,000 data centers currently operating in the United States which is a doubling of the number since 2020. There are 3,000 more data center projects in development. Right now, there are roughly 125 in operation in Florida. Dan Diorio is the Vice President of State Policy for the Data Center Coalition, a nonprofit industry association for data center developers and operators. Diorio contends data centers do create plenty of long-term jobs, and that the public is misinformed about their environmental and energy impacts.
Florida Filmmakers Behind Ethan Bloom
In the film Ethan Bloom, the title character is a thirteen-year-old boy, growing up in Miami, experiencing an existential crisis of religious proportions. Ethan’s mother died a few years earlier, and as the Jewish pre-teen approaches his Bar Mitzvah, he finds the questions he has about life are being answered by a Catholic priest that he befriends, much to the consternation of his father.
It is a genuine and heartwarming story written into the setting of South Florida by screenwriter Maylen Dominguez, an Orlando native who converted from Catholicism to Judaism after meeting her husband. Ethan Bloom was directed by Hershel Faber who grew up Jewish on the Central Florida coast. The pair sit down in studio with Engage producer Richard Copeland to discuss the film.
The film has been screened selectively throughout Florida. It opens in Winter Park, New Smyrna Beach and at The Villages on Friday, April 17.