Backroom Briefing: ‘Something’s got to give’

Members of the media record Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press conference about Hurricane Milton at the Florida Agriculture Center and Horse Park in Ocala, on Oct. 8, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette file photo]

Gov. Ron DeSantis thinks a correction could come in home prices.

“Home prices have gone up. I do think that is going to correct nationwide. And I think it will correct in Florida, because people cannot afford these homes at these prices,” DeSantis said Wednesday during an appearance in Franklin County. “How do you have (an) $80,000 median household income, but then (the) home price be $430,000 median? That doesn’t work. Interest rates have come down a little bit in the last few weeks, but they’re still a lot higher than they were three or four years ago. So, something’s got to give.”

According to Zillow, the average Florida home value is $378,031, down 5.1 percent over the past year. Redfin put the median sales price of a Florida home at $403,000, down 0.17 percent from a year earlier, while the number of homes sold was down 7.7 percent.

DeSantis’ comments came before the Federal Reserve cut the benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage point, possibly the first in a series of reductions that would lower borrowing rates for consumers.

Also, DeSantis wants to target increased housing costs by reducing or eliminating taxes on homesteaded properties. Such a change would require voter approval of a constitutional amendment.

“The tax is the one thing that is totally under the control of we the people acting, in this case, through the (state) Constitution with one of these ballot measures,” DeSantis said.

The House Select Committee on Property Taxes will meet Monday and Tuesday in Tallahassee as lawmakers look at the possibility of putting a proposed amendment on the 2026 ballot.

On Monday, the committee will receive overviews of school taxes, homestead property taxes, tax rates and rural “fiscally constrained” counties. On Tuesday, the committee will hold panel discussions on municipal and county property taxes.

When he established the committee this spring, House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, outlined a series of potential changes for lawmakers to consider, including boosting the homestead exemption to $500,000 for non-school property taxes, changing a cap on annual increases and prohibiting local governments from foreclosing on homesteaded property for unpaid taxes.

Homeowners can qualify for homestead exemptions from local-government and school-district taxes on the first $25,000 of the assessed values of their primary properties and from local-government taxes on the value between $50,000 and $75,000.

Increases in the assessed taxable values of homesteaded property are capped at 3 percent a year or the percent change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower.

Rep. Ryan Chamberlin, a Belleview Republican who is a member of the House committee, pitched a plan Wednesday that initially would direct counties to roll back tax rates to the 2022-2023 fiscal year. The proposal also includes ideas for making up lost revenue.

GROWTH LAWSUIT COMING

A lawsuit backed by an increasing number of local governments is expected to be filed next week over land-use changes in a new state law that was billed as helping homeowners recover from recent hurricanes.

Jamie Cole, a partner with the South Florida law firm Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman, said in a statement Tuesday that attorneys plan to file the paperwork next week. The law (SB 180), in part, bars “restrictive or burdensome” changes to local growth guidelines through Oct. 1, 2027, in counties under federal disaster declarations after last year’s hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton. The prohibition is retroactive to Aug. 1, 2024.

Critics, such as the growth-management group 1000 Friends of Florida, have argued the provision applies to all properties within 100 miles of a hurricane’s path, essentially halting most local land-use planning in the state for three years.

Cole noted 21 local governments have approved resolutions to join the lawsuit.

While Cole didn’t provide a list of the governments, among those backing the suit include Manatee and Orange counties and the cities of Stuart, Deltona, Alachua, Jupiter, Lake Park and Naples.

Governments joining the case are being asked to put up $10,000, with the expectation that costs will go up $5,000 for a potential appeal and another $5,000 if the case reaches the Florida Supreme Court.

The wide-ranging law drew little opposition during this spring’s legislative session. DeSantis has defended the bill as primarily helping people whose homes were damaged to rebuild without government interference.

DOING A DEAL

Though few details were made public, a deal is in the works with Italy as Select Florida, the state’s international business recruitment agency, holds a trade and business-development mission in Milan and Genoa.

The Florida Department of Commerce on Tuesday announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with officials from the Lombardy region in northern Italy. The agreement included issues such as advanced manufacturing, life sciences, aerospace and emerging technologies.

According to Select Florida, the $2,500-per-person trade mission is centered around the opening of the agency’s Milan office and the Genoa International Boat Show.