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Judge removes Property Tax Amendment from Ballot
Circuit Court rules amendment is unclear and misleading
The Second Judicial Circuit Court entered an order STRIKING the proposed "super homestead" exemption proposal from the ballot in January as putting before the voter ballot language that was confusing and stating, "The summary is just not correct. It is misleading." The reasoning of the court was that the summary fails to inform the voter that the proposal's ultimate effect is to phase out Save Our Homes and that the summary fails to tell the voter key facts related to that result. Furthermore, the court noted that in reality the proposal is not "preserving application of Save-Our-Homes provisions" as stated in the ballot summary.
The court failed to reach the question of whether a special election could be called for this particular proposal because the issue became moot.
The court UPHELD the power of the Legislature to limit local government property taxes within the 10 mill cap, finding no way to distinguish the Supreme Court's decision in Florida Department of Education v. Glasser, 622 So. 2d 944 (Fla. 1993), where the Court stated, "The issue presented here is whether a school district has constitutional authority to levy such taxes in the absence of enabling legislation. We answer the query in the negative for the reasons hereinafter expressed." Id. at 946.
As of this publication, the Governor has indicated he would like to see the special session expanded to clarify the issue, Speaker Rubio has not commented and Senate President Pruitt has indicated he would like the decision appealed.