Gut it and start over: The entire tax collection process in Florida needs redoing

Dear Editor;
 
I believe the entire tax collection process in Florida needs revamping. There are many inequities. Here in our county, we’ve been told by our tax appraiser that he is mandated by the state to reassess properties every two years in order to keep assessed values fairly close to market price. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any mandate for the counties to control their budget increases or to force them to roll back the millage. All the counties do is find projects and ways to spend every dollar they can.
 
I feel they should apply the homestead exemption to the assessed value starting after the first $20,000 to $25,000 of assessed value. This way everybody pays some of the burden. We could still have programs for people of limited verifiable income who could be exempt should they not be able to pay.
 
Also, I believe that counties should have to justify an increase in their budgets using a combination of the national cost of living index and actual county growth. A higher number of property sales in a given year should not be the trigger for increased tax revenues.
 
Jim Gervasi
Realty Executives Golden Key
Sebring

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