About Me: Aaron Deslatte is a reporter for Gannett's Florida Capital Bureau. He has covered government and state politics for eight years in Missouri, Arkansas and Florida.
Florida TaxWatch: Property tax amendment tough medicine
Florida TaxWatch is going turkey hunting with Leon County's budget this summer.
The government watchdog group that annually targets state legislators' pet projects announced Wednesday it would delve into the county's budget to show it can easily absorb the statewide $15.6 billion tax rollback and cap passed by the Florida Legislature last week.
"We're going to ask questions like why would you want to cut public safety, why would you want to get rid of deputies or core infrastructure, things that you really need?" TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro said.
Calabro and a group of Tallahassee-area Realtors, lawyers and other professionals led by Stephen Hogge, a committee staff director in the Florida House, hope to demonstrate local governments have been squirreling away enough cash in reserves over the years to cover the hit they'll take this year.
But even Calabro said he doesn't doubt the constitutional amendment headed to voters Jan. 29 that would grow the size of Florida's homestead exemption would make significant cuts to core services.
"Its more challenging. When you start cutting into 20 to 30 percent of a government, it does effect core functions and it does effect people," he said. "Government spends most of its money on people."
Cities, counties, teachers and public safety unions are sure to wage an all-out war on the amendment, which critics argue will force widespread cuts in public services like fire, police, education and parks.
Gov. Charlie Crist has said repeatedly he doesn't think firefighters, police, EMS and other emergency workers will be laid off.
Crist has also laid some of the same groundwork as TaxWatch, claiming last week that local governments had as much as $9 billion in reserves they could use for property tax cuts. That figure now appears to be the product of incorrectly lumping many dedicated fund balances together and calling them all reserves, even though local governments can spend them only on specific services
Calabro agreed that the governor's figure was probably a little too high.
"It's far more inclusive then we would have used," he said. "I don't know where that number came from."
The government watchdog group that annually targets state legislators' pet projects announced Wednesday it would delve into the county's budget to show it can easily absorb the statewide $15.6 billion tax rollback and cap passed by the Florida Legislature last week.
"We're going to ask questions like why would you want to cut public safety, why would you want to get rid of deputies or core infrastructure, things that you really need?" TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro said.
Calabro and a group of Tallahassee-area Realtors, lawyers and other professionals led by Stephen Hogge, a committee staff director in the Florida House, hope to demonstrate local governments have been squirreling away enough cash in reserves over the years to cover the hit they'll take this year.
But even Calabro said he doesn't doubt the constitutional amendment headed to voters Jan. 29 that would grow the size of Florida's homestead exemption would make significant cuts to core services.
"Its more challenging. When you start cutting into 20 to 30 percent of a government, it does effect core functions and it does effect people," he said. "Government spends most of its money on people."
Cities, counties, teachers and public safety unions are sure to wage an all-out war on the amendment, which critics argue will force widespread cuts in public services like fire, police, education and parks.
Gov. Charlie Crist has said repeatedly he doesn't think firefighters, police, EMS and other emergency workers will be laid off.
Crist has also laid some of the same groundwork as TaxWatch, claiming last week that local governments had as much as $9 billion in reserves they could use for property tax cuts. That figure now appears to be the product of incorrectly lumping many dedicated fund balances together and calling them all reserves, even though local governments can spend them only on specific services
Calabro agreed that the governor's figure was probably a little too high.
"It's far more inclusive then we would have used," he said. "I don't know where that number came from."
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