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News & Notes
TV Information Spots Now Available To Counties Regarding Property Taxes

The Florida Association of Counties released four informational public service announcements regarding property taxes for its member counties. The PSAs are intended to be informational in nature or to express the concerns of the FAC regarding changes to Florida's property tax structure.

Specifically, in regard to Amendment 1 the FAC has taken an official position of concern rather than encouraging voters to support or oppose the amendment. Spots can be viewed by visiting www.fl-counties.com. For other communications tools such as OpEds, talking points and FAC's position statement please click here. In addition, counties my request a copy of the PSA's, available on DVD or Beta, by contacting Cragin Mosteller.

Legislative Update

The Florida Legislature met for the first time since the break and found out quickly and abruptly that the holiday season is over. Both Houses received presentations outlining the updated revenue outlook for 2007-08 and next year. The trend is still on downward path and all indications suggest that an additional $2 billion will have to be cut from the current fiscal year. The Legislature previously cut $1.1 in October of last year. The following is a brief summary of committee hearings.

Budget
In addition to the revenue outlook, Legislators received presentations from Florida Tax- Watch and Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) suggesting some expenditure priorities that might serve as an economic stimulus package. The suggestions targeted the following key areas: Infrastructure funding (transportation, affordable housing, public schools, water supply and ports); technology enhancements (space technology and research institutes); and international tourism (marketing).

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Taxation & Budget Reform Commission

TBRC got getting into full swing this week. One of the first orders of business will be SR 11 (Bense, McKay, Miller & Scott) which removes the statutory cap on number of words in ballot summary for proposals submitted by the TBRC. The outcome of SR 11 may determine the success or failure of many TBRC proposals. Next week, the Government Procedures and Structure Committee is expected to hear former Senate President John McKay's sales tax exemption proposal (CP 2). In its current form, CP 2 would require the Legislature to repeal a certain number of exemptions equal to the state imposed school property taxes (required local effort or RLE) by a date certain. FAC supports the initiative on two counts. First, FAC supports a review of the current exemptions for the state and local sales and use tax. Second, FAC supports providing tax relief through the replacement of state imposed school property taxes by alternative revenues.

FAC President Teresa Jacobs Meets with DCA Secretary Tom Pelham

Last week, FAC President Commissioner Teresa Jacobs had the opportunity to meet with Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Secretary Tom Pelham to discuss that agency's proposals for the upcoming legislative session. According to Jacobs, Secretary Pelham's legislative interests center primarily on reducing urban sprawl, strengthening rural planning requirements, and expediting reviews for affordable housing initiatives. President Jacobs used the meeting as an opportunity to not only provide some general comments on DCA's initiatives but also discuss FAC's legislative priorities on growth management, emphasizing that infrastructure funding remains one of the most important issues to our members.

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Update on Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP)

Since the turn of the New Year there have been several items of note regarding the state's Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP). On January 3, 2008 the LGIP Advisory Committee met and heard status reports from SBA Interim Executive Director General Bob Milligan and BlackRock, the LGIP's investment manager. They reported on the current status of the LGIP ($10 billion invested); the process undertaken in seeking and receiving an AAAm rating for the LGIP from Standard and Poor's and host of other topics.

FAC President Teresa Jacobs testified before the committee, stressing the need for the SBA to be forward thinking in identifying ways to increase the availability of LGIP funds to local governments, as one of the largest outstanding issues continues to be liquidity.

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Joint Officers Meeting To Be Held January 14th

The executive committees of the Florida Association of Counties, Florida League of Cities and Florida School Boards Association will meet Monday, January 14th in Tampa for their annual meeting. The agenda will focus on property tax reform, unfunded mandates and the current state of the local government investment pool. It is expected that at the meeting the three groups will adopt joint positions regarding property taxes and unfunded mandates. At the conclusion of the meeting a press availability will be held for members of the media to speak to the president of each group and discuss our joint and individual positions on the January 29th amendment and unfunded mandates. An update will follow in our next edition regarding the outcome of the joint officers meeting and for more information, please do not hesitate to contact John Smith.

Important Message From Medicaid

As one of his priorities has been to improve the level of agency customer service, the Secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, Andrew C. Agwanobi, M.D., is surveying Medicaid providers to gain their feedback and identify areas that need improvement. The survey is open from January 8 through February 8. This is an opportunity to hear from health care professionals working daily to provide quality health care to Medicaid beneficiaries. For more information, click here.

Transportation Growth Management Roundtable Workshop Scheduled

The Okaloosa-Walton Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) has scheduled a Transportation Growth Management Roundtable Workshop with FDOT and DCA.

The purpose of the workshop is to provide local government planners information they need to understand and implement growth management legislation requirements, particularly as it relates to proportionate fair-share.

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2008 National Association of Counties Achievement Award Program

Applications are available for the 2008 Achievement Award Program, a non-competitive awards program which seeks to recognize innovative county government programs initiated by county governments and personnel.

Who is eligible to submit applications?
County governments and state associations of counties are eligible to apply. There is no limit to the number of applications one can submit.

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National Association of County Information Officers (NACIO) 2008 Awards of Excellence

The National Association of County Information Officers (NACIO) is holding its 2008 Awards of Excellence competition. All county public information officers are encouraged to take advantage of this excellent opportunity to be recognized for their outstanding public information efforts and also to learn more about NACIO. State Associations are eligible to participate in the contest. For more information, contact Todd McGee, Communications Director, North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, at 919/715-7336.