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The power of the constitution is in the hands of the TBRC
A little known group will shape Florida's future - are you ready?
Why the TBRC is important
The TBRC is currently meeting and will make recommendations
regarding suggested amendments to the
state constitution by May 4, 2008. The commission's
suggestions are important to local government because
they can greatly impact your county's tax structure
and budget.
The TBRC will soon hold a series of public hearings around the state to gather input from residents. Your presence at the meetings will be vital in helping your local government preserve its ability to make local decisions. By urging the TBRC to preserve local decisionmaking authority, you can help protect your county's ability to fulfill the unique needs of your residents and meet the diverse challenges you face.
Protect local decision-making
Counties and their residents must challenge this encroachment upon local decision-making by encouraging the TBRC to recommend constitutional amendments
that protect local voices - instead of amendments that would silence local
voices.
The Florida Association of Counties requests your presence at your nearest TBRC meeting to let the commission know the authority to make local decisions should stay where it belongs - closest to home, with local residents and locally elected community leaders.
In addition to the erosion of local decision-making, unfunded mandates are of major concern. State and federal mandates for health care, juvenile justice, and other costs add $1 billion annually to counties' fiscal burdens. By speaking at a TBRC meeting, you can emphasize the burden unfunded mandates impose and stress the importance of preserving local governments' ability to make decisions about their unique communities.
Bring supporters
Does your county have citizen groups that are concerned about being able to
influence the decisions affecting them? If the power to determine levels of local
taxation is shifted to the state, residents in your county will have a harder time
getting their voices heard in Tallahassee.
The more genuine, passionate people you can get to illustrate this message to the TBRC, the better. Encourage your supporters to attend a meeting with you. Ask them to share their concerns about local decisions and the effects unfunded mandates have on your community.
Important points
The following are important themes we recommend using during the public
hearings. When the TBRC hears these messages over and over by different
county leaders and local supporters at each meeting, your words will resonate
and make an impact.
Unfunded mandates
For years, the state of Florida has passed down responsibilities that were historically funded by the state to local governments. This creates an unfair burden on local governments and begs the question: How are counties supposed to
adequately provide programs and services that our citizens want if their costs
continue to go up while their revenue is slashed?
Understand this: local governments support property tax relief and reform for Florida's citizens. However, relief can not rest solely on local governments, especially when the state continues to pass down unfunded mandates. Just as our current property tax structure is unfair and not working, unfunded mandates are innately unfair has the state passes its responsibilities onto local governments without providing the funding to cover those duties.
It is our hope that the TBRC will consider in this process increasing the requirements on the state on passing down unfunded mandates. Existing limitations are minimal and easily overridden, however, many other states - such as New Jersey - have made this a priority, passing legislation that significantly limits the unfair pass down of unfunded mandates.
In recent years, state and federal leaders have mandated that counties pay for increasing shares of budgets for programs or fund them outright.
Mandates imposed on counties include voter regulations, labor requirements, and increasing costs from Medicaid, juvenile justice programs, and health care for the uninsured. Counties have absolutely no control over these programs and thus, the necessary check and balance over government spending is absent from these programs.
State and federal mandates now add $1 billion to counties' fiscal burdens. Counties must use property taxes to fund these mandates.
Local decision-making
There is nothing more important than the quality of life that our residents expect and demand.
The proposed constitutional amendment is a direct attack on the ability of Florida's citizens to make and keep decisions in the hands of their community leaders.
Local decision-making means having a voice in the decisions that affect you and your neighbors.
We must keep decision-making where it belongs - closest to home, with you and your local community leaders.
Residents look to counties to provide services that add to the quality of life in Florida's communities. For example, counties provide residents with public transportation, parks, libraries, community health care, affordable housing, animal services, and economic development.
The needs for these services are as unique as the 67 counties in Florida. A onesize-fits-all mandate from Tallahassee may work for one community (such as Miami-Dade) while hindering the success of another (such as Okaloosa). Local decision-making is essential to meet the varying needs of diverse counties.