Property Tax
Dear Governor Crist:
The Florida Association of Counties encourages you to consider a veto of HB1B. This legislation will not only put a strain on local services, but more importantly presumes that officials in Tallahassee are better equipped at making local decisions than the commissioners elected by people in their communities.
Celebrated democratic philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville once said: "The strength of free peoples resides in the local community. Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they put it within the people's reach; they teach people to appreciate its peaceful enjoyment and accustom them to make use of it. Without local institutions a nation may give itself a free government, but it has not got a spirit of liberty." HB1B, erodes this 'spirit of liberty' by placing further limitations on the ability of local elected officials to serve their citizens and moves that accountability all the way to Tallahassee.
The regulations put in place in HB1B erode Florida's constitution which was approved by the people, to provide taxing authority to local governments to be able to fund and finance the service and capital investments sought by local citizens. Article 7, Section 9(a) outlines that the authority of government should reside with the government closest to the people which is unequivocally our local county commissions and city councils. Local commissioners meet weekly and are available to the people within their communities year round. State officials meet only once a year and the people of Florida have access to only one state representative and senator. On the local level, the people have easy access to the entire voting body whose decisions are made with their regular guidance and feed back.
A veto of HB1B will keep the authority in the hands of the people rather than the hands of the distant and cumbersome institution that is Tallahassee. We believe that support of local decision-making is a long-standing principle of American political philosophy. As Ronald Regan once said, of the federal government it has "taken too much authority from the states and too much liberty with the constitution." We agree with this sentiment and feel that HB1B takes too much authority from local governments and too much liberty with Florida's constitution. We strongly encourage you to keep "government for the people, by the people" - with the people by vetoing HB1B.
Sincerely,
Christopher Holley
FAC