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FAC's 2008 Legislative Conference St. Johns County
Over 180 county commissioners, county staff, and private sector folks attended the FAC Legislative Conference held on November 13-16, 2007 in St. Johns County. The conference marked the culmination of months of hard work by our policy committees, workgroups, and staff. This year's conference was filled with excitement as there was an influential guest keynote speaker, passionate discussion between our members on issues such as growth management, mining, and property taxes - together with cold showers and a fire alarm.
On behalf of FAC, Commissioner Cyndi Stevenson (St. Johns) presented a "Defender of Home Rule" award to Representative Dick Kravitz (R-19). This award was given to Rep. Kravitz for consistently supporting the local decisions of local governments within his district. Additionally, Rep. Kravitz was one of the primary voices for preserving fiscal home rule and opposing one size fits all solutions to the property tax debate.
As a result of the recent special legislative session dealing with property tax reform, much of the discussion in the Finance Transportation and Administration Committee (FTA) meeting, chaired by Commissioner Tammy Hall (Lee), centered on the Legislature's proposed constitutional amendment for January 29, 2008, and FAC's position relative to this.
The FTA meeting began with a brief presentation by FAC's special counsel, Sarah Bleakly, on the "Effect of Property Tax Reform." A comparison of the previous tax reform plan adopted by the Legislature in special session B, which was subsequently ruled by the Circuit Court to be misleading and removed from the ballot, and the current proposed constitutional amendment pointed out some very significant differences between the plans. First, the current plan proposal does not provide a constitutional requirement that the Legislature control local taxes. Second, the current plan implementing bill (SB 4D) provides protection for fiscally constrained counties. Third, in the current plan, there is no requirement to reduce millage to adjust for loss of tax base from the passage of the proposed plan. The effect of these differences coupled with the current plan proposal components should reduce the anticipated adverse impact on county tax revenues in comparison with the previous plan.
Keynote Speaker and Taxation and Budget Reform Commission Chairman, Allan Bense, addressed the membership at the FTA meeting. Chair Bense provided an overview of the TBRC, including its purpose, committee structure and timeline for submitting constitutional and statutory amendment proposals. Bense explained that he believed the TBRC would address several property tax issues including portability and revenue caps, but also stressed the TBRC would be reviewing several other issues including education and budgeting processes. Chair Bense also explained that for a constitutional proposal to be put on the November 2008 ballot, it required an affirmative vote of 17 of the 25 voting members, a difficult task according to Bense, given the diverse backgrounds of the TBRC members. Chair Bense urged the members to reach out to the TBRC now to share ideas or voice concerns on the issues. Following his speech, Chair Bense opened the microphone for Q&A before being interrupted by a fire alarm.
On Thursday evening, the Legislative Executive Committee approved the proposed policy statements, and determined the five issues of priority as being property taxes, unfunded mandates, mining, Medicaid reform, and the creation of the Florida Public Safety Coordinating Commission within the FAC. The five Priority Issues and the 2008 Legislative Program was adopted unanimously by the membership on Friday morning.
A printed copy of the final Legislative Program - containing the five priority issues along with all of the adopted policy statements - will be mailed out to the membership in late December and will also be posted on the FAC website.
FAC thanks St. Johns County for being a wonderful host. The welcome bags, along with the raffle prizes, were an added bonus.