Property taxes hurt non-homesteaded property and Realtors should speak up 

Editor,

Most of the attention on the property tax issue appears to be concentrated around homesteaded properties; however, up to 40 percent of past property sales in the state have been for investment and second home properties. Property taxes on those properties, which are not covered by the Save Our Homes legislation or homestead provisions, have risen at much faster rates, driving many of those owners out of the market. This adds significantly to our current real estate inventory problems. But it also has long-term consequences that may be more troubling than even our personal losses from lost property sales. As second homeowners sell their properties and leave our state, their spending for everything from food and clothes to cars and boats also leaves. This could have major consequences on our tourist driven economy.
 
The real problem is not property taxes. It is government spending. Politicians, more than happy to receive windfall increases in property taxes, have in many cases quietly, but dramatically, increased spending. And they have been able to do so while claiming to hold the line on property tax rates. (Technically they are holding the line; millage rates have not gone up, but the basis for those rates, property values, has.)
 
Mayor Crotty, Orange County’s mayor, has privately boasted that he does not feel the dramatic increase in spending is a problem because only four people complained at last year’s public budget meetings. 

As real estate professionals, we cannot afford to sit idly by. We can make a difference in two ways: County officials need to hear from us directly about the spending issue, and we need to educate and encourage investors – the owners of the properties we manage – to discuss the situation with their elected officials.
 
Ronald A. Janssen
Hunter’s Creek Properties, Inc.
Orlando

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