PART III Let’s get a little wonky…
Now that we’ve discussed wants and needs and the difficulty with those in the last 2 parts (you can access them here if you haven’t read them: https://mctaxpayers.org/news/) let’s move on to the WHY NOW of the Elimination of Property Taxes in Florida.
Well, the state is swimming in funds. Florida’s 2026 budget maintains $15.7 billion in reserves. Regardless of your politics, the Governor wants to be known as the fiscally conservative Governor. He claims to have cut fat and spent less to achieve more. He wants to bring that philosophy to the 67 counties.
Florida’s property taxes have risen rapidly, increasing by nearly 40% in the last 3 years and more than doubling in the last 10, according to Florida TaxWatch. These taxes totaled $59.2 billion in the most recent fiscal year, the non-profit reported. Yet, many counties, even though they are bringing in more revenue because values have increased, have only kept their ad valorem rate flat or even increased it! Insatiable!
Martin County ranks around 30th in population size among Florida’s counties with approximately 164,000 residents. Divide that into the County’s budget of $763,193,437 and it spends $4,653.62 on every man, woman and child ANNUALLY! This is nearly what Maimi/Dade spends. They are the largest county with over 2.7 million residents.
The general fund of Martin County’s budget has increased by 46% over the last 5 years from $146,895,226 to $273,586,989 while our population has increased by less than 2% (except in 2024 when it increased by 2.1%) every year since 1996. It’s true. A lot of the traffic, beach crowd etc. that you experience is due to the behemoths to our north and south. So, even if you allow for a 10% increase, the general fund should have only increased to $161,584,748. But, wait what about inflation? We must account for that. Statistically, inflation accounts for an overall price increase of about 25% since 2020. Ok, let’s add another 25% to our budget figure. The general fund should still be only $201,980,935. It is therefore reasonable to say that our budget is $71,606,054 over what it should be.
Are you getting angry yet? Maybe confused? Go back and read the first 2 parts.
It is evident that WE, the people who reside in Martin County like our luxuries. We have a multimillion-dollar clubhouse on a public golf course, Sailfish Splash Waterpark which has an operating loss of $272,362 and Indian Riverside Park was in the hole $368,918 last year. MARTY rides are free and the County has a list of non-profits that they give your tax dollars to every year. Many of these employ professional fundraisers and the latest addition, Special Olympics is a global organization to which the Commission gave $85,000 of OUR tax dollars. Keep in mind that we also have an independent taxing authority to help fund children’s services called the Children’s Services Council oddly enough. Do other entities like Sand Dune Café make money. Yes, but do they make up for year after year losses on other entities? And, the bigger point is why didn’t we know? So, we can decide if we need to cut our losses?
Much of our tax revenue goes to Public Safety which will not be included in the elimination of property taxation for obvious reasons. But, that doesn’t mean that fire/rescue and sheriff’s services shouldn’t be looked at for cost saving efficiencies from time to time. Perhaps they can’t see the forest for the trees. An evaluation by outside entities qualified in assessing these particular institutions could either reveal some cost savings or validate such large increases in expenditures and responsibilities. There will be future articles on this issue.
Part IV of V will be out in a couple of weeks.
MCTA has instituted an INSIGHTS series of events which will feature a prominent issue or speaker of importance to you the taxpayer. And, of course, there is our monthly newsletter which will report on Commission meetings etc. To get invitations to the INSIGHTS events or to sign up for the newsletter go to www.mctaxpayers.org. Email us at mctaxpayers1950@gmail.com
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