Rural Glades County faces tough cuts if property tax plan passes

GLADES COUNTY, Fla. (WINK)—It's been almost a week since Gov. Ron DeSantis' homestead property tax exemption plan moved forward in a special session.

County officials in rural communities say, with their narrow tax base, figuring out what to cut in their budgets will be a challenge if it passes. 

Some Glades County homeowners tell WINK News they want the tax break, while others say they like the public services their dollars pay for, but overall, most say they need more information before deciding how to vote in November.

One Glades County man said he wants the property tax exemption to protect people on fixed incomes.

"I also can be concerned about somebody that could be forced out of their home because they can't afford that 1,300 you know, when they're only making 1,300 a month for social security," he said.

Homeowners Teri and Woody Campbell said current property taxes help fund their county resources. While they hope their property taxes don't increase, they said they want to keep the current tax system in place.

"It will also take the money away from our road care and our sewers and our school, everything around here," Woody Campbell said. "We need our tax money. Well, I'm for keeping the way it is."

One person who watches the county budget closely is Glades County Manager Paul Carlisle. Carlisle said the majority of the county's budget comes from ad valorem taxes.

"As far as Glades County goes, there's no fluff in our budgets," Carlisle said. "We don't have the growth that the coast communities have."

Carlisle said the county's property appraiser broke down the impact on the county budget if the plan passes and exempts the first $250,000 of a homestead's value from taxation.

"By the time we did the 250, we're losing about two and a half million dollars a year in ad valorem revenue. For a small county like Glades County, that's devastating," Carlisle said. "It's going to be difficult… It's going to be difficult decisions to be made."

Governor DeSantis' office said property tax revenue collected by local governments has nearly doubled in the past seven years, from $32 billion to $60 billion, and is expected to reach $83 billion by 2032. DeSantis' plan requires local governments to use remaining property taxes only for core needs such as public safety, education and infrastructure.

In a May press release, DeSantis stated in-part: "Florida homeowners need relief. Now is the time to stand up for taxpayers, enact a historic reform, and save the home of every Floridian."

Carlisle said figuring out where to cut on an already tight budget would be a challenge.

"When you take that amount of money away, I'm not 100% sure I'm going to be able to fully fund all of those operations that they mandate in there," Carlisle said. "Road paving, pothole repair, animal control, code enforcement, planning and zoning, building those types of things… We won't be able to fund a lot of that."

The future of this plan is in the hands of voters when it hits the ballots in November. If it passes, what does and doesn't get trimmed in Glades County is still up in the air, but Carlisle said he will meet with his budget team and hold workshops to see which direction the county can go.