Right now, the Florida Legislature is holding a special legislative session to debate Governor DeSantis’s “Save Our Homes” proposal, which seeks a constitutional amendment to dramatically raise the homestead exemption to $250,000 – to start.

If the proposal is passed by lawmakers, the measure will go before voters in November. Essentially, this exemption changes how much of your home’s value is subject to property taxes.

If you are like me, you have no idea what I am talking about…but this will impact our communities so it’s important we know what we are voting for.

I thought I’d share what I learned in my efforts to understand property taxes – and to understand if the “Save Our Homes” proposal is a good one. It feels like everyone around me has already made up their mind, but I don’t feel like I have enough information to do that, but I want to. Honestly, before we argue about it, we should understand how much money we’re actually talking about – for individuals, and for the community.

I woke up today, and knew it was time to learn – and bring anyone who wants to learn more along for the ride. Here we go:

Unfortunately, it only gets more complicated from here. I’m going to keep going in my explanation, but you don’t have to. You are welcome to accept you don’t need to fully understand property taxes and homestead tax exemptions to understand the impact of removing them. It is a very, very true statement.

If that’s you, here is your take away: Property taxes fund our local government, and everyone who owns a home pays into it. We all pay different amounts, so you’re going to have to do your own math to know the exact amount of money YOUR HOUSEHOLD will save.

But if property taxes make sense to you, then please, get wonky in the comments. It is through discussion that we can truly learn the nuance of how this impacts our individual households, and our community as a whole.

For those of you who are good with what you know, I am jealous of you. I need to understand one more layer.

For me, I need to know how much money are we talking? Saving money sounds critical, and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want more money – myself included.

The cost of each household’s tax depends on where your home is, which changes the rate you are taxed at…so it’s going to look different for everyone. Some factors that change the property tax rate are:

• Which city you live in (for example, Sarasota city vs. Sarasota County)
• School district taxes,
• Special taxing districts (such as fire districts, stormwater, or libraries)
• Local voter-approved referendums or bonds

Because all of these layers are added together, the total property tax rate can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, even within the same county. Two neighbors can still have different tax bills depending on exactly where they sit and what districts they fall into.

What’s more, Florida residents already benefit from homestead tax exemption and caps that limit the amount your property taxes can increase each year. There’s not really a way to generalize how much each household will save, but with current policies, homeowners are currently saving substantial amounts. As a homeowner, I appreciate that. As a parent with a child in daycare, I need that.

But I also depend on the things those property taxes help fund the countless local services most of us rarely think about until we need them, or use every day.

So before I decide whether lower property taxes are a good idea, I find myself asking a different question:
Which do I need more…the money in my pocket, or the services my community provides?

So to make it simple, we are just going to talk generally. Here is a chart to make it make sense:

Now that you kind of, sort of know the minimum savings you can expect with the proposed policy changes, it’s time to think about the trade-offs. What happens to our County Government funding if households stop paying into that pot, and instead have that money for their family?

To determine that, we need to know:

• How much will our County Budget decrease based on these proposed policies?
• What services does our County Government pay for?
• What will be cut if they don’t have funding for it?
• Will I now have to pay for those services if they are not provided?
• Will the savings be enough to do that?
• And will it be worth the work to have to do it myself?
• Are they things I could even provide for my family f if they were no longer available?

The numbers are simple. The trade-offs? That’s the next conversation.

What do you want to know? Let’s figure it out – together.