With budget talks apparently derailed by a divided Legislature, a state representative says all ideas are on the table for property tax cuts as she continues to prioritize affordability across the Sunshine State.
State Rep. Vicki Lopez, R-Miami, is co-chair of the House's special committee charged with brainstorming ways to reduce property taxes.
In general, the House and Gov. Ron DeSantis have been feuding about this issue, with the House primarily focusing on an idea to cut sales taxes.
DeSantis argued that the House's plan is something "nobody asked for" and would "effectively kill any opportunity to do property tax reform," the News Service of Florida reported. He has said the proposal is "dead on arrival."
The governor has proposed providing a one-time, $1,000 property tax rebate this year to homeowners before asking voters in 2026 about getting rid of the tax.
READ MORE: Survey shows more Floridians support a property tax cut vs. sales tax cut
He also believes the committee Lopez is part of is not a serious effort to prioritize lowering property taxes.
"You don't convene a 37-person committee if you're trying to get something done," DeSantis said. "You convene a 37-person committee if you're trying to smother it in the crib."
On "The Florida Roundup," Lopez told host Tom Hudson that she disagreed with the governor's sentiment.
"We spend time studying issues because we think they're important. Sometimes they're complex and complicated. And we always end up with a solution," Lopez said.
She added that committee members are listening to all ideas and stakeholders.
Property tax cuts
However, she does believe in cutting property taxes but has a different approach than the governor. Whereas DeSantis has talked about the concept of eliminating property taxes, Lopez is a proponent of slight decreases of property and sales taxes.
The representative added that she's open to all ideas but has never seen a proposal from the governor on the elimination of property taxes.
"We would all, I believe, benefit from listening to all kinds of different ideas from the elimination to the reduction," she said.
Lopez added she would want any changes to property taxes to include commercial property owners.
"Businesses are important to the economy, and they also are being taxed in the same fashion as our homeowners are," she said. "And we have to remember that's also trickling down to our renters. That any increase in housing costs is always sent down to the renters, so every single Floridian will be impacted by the work that we are doing."
Some Floridians have expressed concerns that it wouldn't benefit renters in terms of cost decreases. Lopez said she wants renters to make sure their voices are heard before the committee.
She also added that the committee is currently not approaching any reduction of the taxes that go toward public schools.
"If we were to remove those taxes, the state would then be on the hook for providing all of those funds that they would need to keep our school districts running," she told Hudson. "So I think at this juncture, we're not looking at it. But you never know what's going to happen because we've said all ideas are on the table."
READ MORE: Florida legislature budget talks derail again
Lopez also talked about how if lawmaker reduces property taxes, then the discussion will be around any reduction in services at the local level.
Many people think local governments are spending money in ways they don't agree with, Lopez said. So she thinks the conversation about potentially trimming revenue streams may spark conversations around what services should provide.
"I think affordability is the No. 1 issue in Florida," Lopez said. "I think taxpayers have to ask themselves, 'Do I want to pay for all the things that I get?' "
She added that the question then becomes: What are you, as a Floridian, willing to pay?
"I think that's going to be a question that's really going to fall on the voters that have to vote on a referendum to do anything with property tax," Lopez said.
When asked about insurance concerns, Lopez said she wants to take a stab at property insurance in the next legislative session, and that it could potentially end up being a byproduct of the special committee.
Condo affordability
On the same vein of affordability, Lopez has been pushing for condominium reform.
She authored legislation that had a compromise bill in the Senate and is awaiting the governor's signature. The bill allows condominium associations to use lines of credit instead of having money in the bank for regular repairs, which became a requirement after the 2021 deadly Surfside condo collapse.
The requirement also included having mandatory inspections and fixes.
"I always say you're either going to pay now or pay later, and this is allowing folks to pay later," Lopez told Hudson.
Lopez added that if owners have done their structural integrity reserve study for the building, they will know what amount of money they need to reserve, and that the credit line is their reserve.
She described how a condo association could go out and get a master credit line for the building. Then, each unit owner would have to pay for whatever is taken out of the credit line to make the reserves.
"So what it does is it gives people more time to determine how they want to proceed," she said.
During the limbo of figuring out condo reform, Lopez encouraged people in 2024 not to purchase a condo.
But now she has changed her tune.
"I think it's a good time to buy simply because there are more units on the market," she said. "The market has kind of reduced some of those values, so it's probably a good deal for people, but they will now know what their future obligations will be."
This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Tom Hudson for "The Florida Roundup."
Copyright 2025 WUSF 89.7
