Margie Morrison Richardson's family has lived in Florida for generations.
In fact, Morrison Springs in the Panhandle is named after them. She and her husband live in the small Gulf Coast community known as Carrabelle.
"Florida is home," she said. "It's a lifestyle. It's family. It's where I live. It's where I grew up. It's memories, and it's changing."
She said it’s gotten too expensive. That's why there's a "for sale" sign in front of her house.
"It'll be $1,000 a month just to live in Florida, and that's for taxes and insurance," she said. "So that's caused us to just reevaluate."
ALSO READ: Florida House lawmakers poised to take up property tax changes
This year, Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed targeting property taxes. His calls have grown louder.
"I want property tax relief more than anything, and that's what we're going to deliver," he said this summer, in one of the many times he's addressed the topic.
He accuses local governments of charging residents too much. He's also against the tax in principle.
"If you own your home, and that's your primary residence and you have a homestead and everything like that, I don't see how government has the right to keep asking you to pony up," he said.
State lawmakers are just starting to explore options.
Republican Rep. Toby Overdorf of Palm City is the co-chair of a new House committee. He questions some local governments' spending practices.
"There are cities that are doing it right and that are spending the taxpayer dollars equivocally, and there are others that aren't," he said.
The committee met in the Capitol on Monday and Tuesday. Lawmakers received an hourslong crash course on how Florida's property taxes work.
They also heard from local officials, who warned reducing the tax will hurt services like education and public safety.
Casey Cook from the Florida League of Cities said if residents don't like what their local officials are doing, they have the power to make their voice — and vote — known.
ALSO READ: Noting 'political risk,' GOP House member reveals plan to end property taxes
"Waste is in the eye of the beholder, and the way that cities budget, they budget based on the priorities expressed by their residents," Cook said. "Cities are forced to operate in the sunshine."
How much lawmakers will try to reduce property taxes — and how exactly they'll try to do it — is still unclear. The nonprofit Florida Policy Institute reports one option is getting rid of the tax on people's primary homes. It would cost counties, cities and school districts around $18.5 billion every year.
The institute's CEO, Sadaf Knight, said governments would either have to raise taxes and fees elsewhere or be left with tough budget choices.
"These property taxes are very important for our local communities, for school districts, for providing really critical and important services that we all depend on," Knight said.
"What we need to see is addressing these other issues, to address affordability when it comes to housing, when it comes to property insurance," she continued. "It's not eliminating property tax or significantly reducing property tax, which, in turn, is just going to negatively impact all of us anyway."
Jacksonville homeowner Suzi Stone is a retired pharmacy representative. She wishes lawmakers would focus on insurance.
"For me personally, the real problem is not property taxes," she said. "It's my homeowners insurance. My homeowners insurance has gone up, exponentially, at a greater rate than my property taxes have."
She recently managed to get her insurance costs down, thanks to a relative who works in the industry. Others aren't so lucky.
Margie Morrison Richardson also pays a high price for insurance. She agrees the state should do more about the insurance market.
But she still thinks something needs to be done about property tax.
Some lawmakers are talking about providing targeted relief for older Floridians. Richardson, who’s in her 60s and retired, supports it.
"I believe that after you get to a certain age, you've paid your debt, you know, give us a break. We work hard. We've paid our taxes."
Meanwhile, the "for sale" sign stays up. She said prices have gotten so high it's hard to find a buyer.
Florida voters will have the final say. Proposals are expected to appear on the 2026 election ballot.
If you have any questions about state government or the legislative process, you can ask the Your Florida team by clicking here.
This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
