Reducing or eliminating some local property taxes is a high priority for Gov. Ron DeSantis and Daniel Perez, the top Republican in the Florida House of Representatives. But at least one Republican member of the House thinks it's the wrong debate to have.
“We don't get a lot of complaints about property taxes,” Rep. Jim Mooney told WLRN. “We get a lot of complaints about insurance, which I think honestly should be the bigger debate.”
Mooney represents the Keys and rural Miami-Dade County. Before being elected to Tallahassee, he was part of a group of Keys residents who incorporated the city of Islamorada in the late 1990s. Mooney served as its mayor before and after Hurricane Irma in 2017. He says that experience in local government has informed his approach to the debate over local property taxes as a state lawmaker.
Local government is where, he said, “ you have to really count your pennies.”
Seven different proposals have been floated by Florida Republican House members to change some property taxes levied by local governments. If any of the proposals pass the Legislature and are signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, then they would appear on the fall ballot for voters to decide whether or not to adopt them. It takes 60% support for an amendment to be added to the state constitution.
“ I promise you that everybody's gonna say, ‘No, I don't want to have property taxes.’ It's going to be our duty to make sure that the public understands what that really means,” he said.
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One proposal would eliminate all property taxes beginning in 2027 for primary owner-occupied homes and condominiums except for property taxes levied for public schools. A second would phase out non-school property taxes on homesteaded properties over the next decade. A third would zero-out non-school property taxes for homeowners 65 years old and older.
“ I do believe that there's room to help some people out,” Mooney said, but he’s cautious because of his experience in local government, which levy property taxes in Florida. The state government does not collect any property taxes.
While Mooney welcomes the examination of local government spending he called cutting or eliminating local government property taxes “ a very delicate subject.”
Gov. DeSantis called having seven bills that may result in constitutional amendments “not a serious attempt” in a social media post. House Speaker Daniel Perez rejected the criticism in an interview on The Florida Roundup, saying, “We're not going to be able to amend the Constitution and eliminate property taxes through Twitter."
A July poll by the University of North Florida found 20% of those surveyed named property insurance as the biggest issue in the state. Just 12% pointed to property taxes.
“It's probably actually even higher than that in reality,” Mooney said.
Other cost of living issues ranked high in the poll, such as a more general “housing costs” and the “economy/jobs/inflation." Taken together, almost two out of three of those surveyed identified something related to housing affordability as the most important problem in the state.
Mooney said legislative reforms okayed over the past several years to the property insurance industry have “started to have a positive impact,” including reducing lawsuits and more companies entering the insurance market in Florida. Yet, he would like to make more changes.
A special case: Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a special case for both insurance and property taxes. Despite being a small county with only 84,000 residents, Monroe County has the third highest number of homes relying on the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance for windstorm protection. The county also is home to 31,000 properties carrying flood insurance through the federal government.
Mooney cited a 2022 law that required a homeowner with Citizens property insurance to have to carry flood insurance, too. This year, homes over $500,000 have to have coverage. The threshold falls to $400,000 next year and to all Citizens policyholders in 2027. Mooney said he dropped coverage on the contents of his own as a consequence of the law. He would like the rule changed to only require Citizens’ customers carry flood insurance if their mortgage lender requires it.
“ The bank should be that driver of the car, not us,” he said.
Mooney called the focus on property taxes “probably the easier route” for the Legislature “to try and say, ‘ere’s how we save you money.’” But he warned, “ If we gut the system, then the communities get gutted. And that's not good. It's not good for property values or for quality of life.”
