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Hersh v. Browning: Property Tax Relief Litigation
After the Supreme Court of Florida sent the Hersh v. Browning case back to the circuit court, before hearing the matter, the case was dismissed and the plaintiff, Mayor Hersh was instructed to refile the lawsuit as a declaratory action. Mayor Hersh, on August 7, 2007, refiled his suit, arguing that Secretary Browning should remove the proposed constitutional amendment from the ballot in January 2008 for two reasons:
- the ballot statement is misleading because it fails to inform the voter that the proposed amendment will phase out and eliminate Save Our Homes and because it falsely suggested that the amendment guarantees a minimum exemption of $50,000 for everyone when actually those property owners who keep Save Our Homes will only retain a $25,000 homestead exemption; and
- the constitutional proposal must be placed on a general election, not a special election ballot.
Mayor Hersh also filed suit against the Department of Revenue, arguing that the statutory rollback and cap in HB 1B is unconstitutional because it infringes on the exclusive authority of cities and counties to levy ad valorem taxes.
Mayor Hersh has now filed a motion for summary judgment (August 17, 2007), seeking the court's declaration that the ballot language of SJR 4B is misleading and that portions of HB 1B are unconstitutional. At the time of this writing the state's response to the motion had not yet been filed and no hearing date had been set. (Delegal: gdelegal@fl-counties.com)