Lucky Lucky Me

Whew! Aren’t I the lucky one! I figure there’s a whopping $240 savings on my typical, average home value now that Amendment One is said and done. And yet, I’ll still have an end-of-the-year tax bill that’s three times that of my neighbors.

A recent call to the Property Appraiser’s office informed me that I had the misconception that I would have an additional savings because the value of my home plummeted in 2007; property taxes are billed a year in arrears. The kind County employee explained that the $25,000 increase in the Homestead Exemption would be closer to $15,000 because school taxes are not inclusive of the tax reduction and that the 3% increase of Save Our Homes still applies. So, that $240 is the total sum of possible savings. Governor Charlie Crist poorly represented the understanding of Amendment One, just as The Times had professed. And yet, I’m still a bit confused!

So, I’ll still owe the County twice the amount of my neighbors who have stayed in their homes in excess of ten years and three times that of those of twenty years. I’ll still be paying a far higher share of taxes than those same neighbors who will continue to benefit from the same level of County services. Hundreds of other homeowners across the state are right there beside me.

Those same neighbors whose tax bills are a third of my own can downsize to another location and save their homes much more easily than myself. If I should downsize, I would still pay three times as much in property and school taxes as they. I’ll cross my fingers when County Commissioners give approval of the 2009 budget and hope they don’t inch up the millage rate.

I can take the overall savings in may devalued property taxes of maybe $240 and apply it to my home insurance premium reduction that failed to materialize as promised by Governor Crist.

Some homeowners made out like bandits from the passage of Amendment 1, but there are just as many of us still behind the proverbial bars of financial woes with little chance of reprieve. We’ve been sentenced to a foreseeable future of inequity because the Florida Legislature will rest easy that the people have mandated what boils down to the status quo. It may be deemed unnecessary to pursue other tax reform.

Demographics of voter approval of the Constitutional Amendment would surely prove to be retirees. They are more astute to issues and have the wherewithal to get out and vote at their leisure. I applaud each and every one of them for their fortitude, but the outcome may have been different if a broader range of homeowners had participated in the Primary Election.

Keep in mind that a class action lawsuit that claims the Save Our Homes portability provision discriminates and violates the State Constitution. So, don't county those dollars saved because Amendment One may be one big goose that laid a fool’s golden egg.

I feel the only way for me to make out ahead in this economic mess is to sell my current home and relocate to a cozy trailer valued little more than $50,000; my property tax and insurance relief would finally give me financial relief of owning a home in Florida. I can’t expect it otherwise.