June 22, 2026 • 9 mins
Ryan talks to FL Capitol Reporter for E.W. Scripps Forrest Saunders about what Florida’s proposed property tax amendment could mean for homeowners. Saunders explains why the savings estimates may look different once potential education funding fees are factored in and how counties may have to adjust their budgets if the amendment passes.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Farah and Farah,
Accident attorneys from Tampa.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Let's bring in Florida Capital Reporter for e W Scripts
in Tampa Bay twenty eight. Forest Saunders is with us.
You can follow him on x for lots more at
FB Saunders. Forest, thanks so much for taking a few
minutes to come back on with us. And you have
this great report out about Florida's property tax amendment, and
(00:27):
we focused a lot and I'm sure we'll talk about
this some over the course of the next couple of minutes,
but we spent a lot of time talking about the
impact of the property tax amendment on cities and counties
across the state. Your report took a look at a
new tool that offers an estimate on how this property
(00:48):
tax amendment will impact property tax payers, how much people
could save. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, So, I mean, right now, what we have out
there that you probably are aware of is the governor's website,
and even by his own admission, this does not exactly
port over what the legislature passed, right, So the legislature
changed some things, and primarily what they did in terms
of savings is they carved out school taxes on their proposals.
So their proposal protects the money that you pay into
(01:17):
school districts. And what that means ultimately is that you're
not going to save as much because that's a big
chunk of money, right, So easy Vachel.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
He's a guy from up in Duval County and he's
a tax expert.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
He wanted to figure out exactly what you might save,
so he created a website called myexemption check dot com.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
And what you can do is basically go on there.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
If you know your milite rate, great, but if you
just know you're you're basically your obsessed value, you can
throw that into his calculator and you can see what
you're going to earn. Now here's the rub, right, what
the governor says you're gonna save with my uh, you know,
our save our homes from excessive taxes, that web page
is going to be a lot more than what you
(01:56):
might actually save under this new plan because it does
account for that carve out of school taxes.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
And what I.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Found is you're gonna save about a third less, right,
So your monthlies are gonna be like a two hundred
and seven dollars savings If you have like a five
hundred thousand dollars home in Hillsboro versus like three hundred
and thirty or more under what the governor was originally proposing.
So that's that's a little less, right, and in some
(02:24):
cases it's it's considerably less. And then you start asking
yourself this question. This was Casey's point, is the benefit
to you enough to offset the cost to cities and
counties because cities and counties are still taking the hit, right,
whether school taxes are saved or not, cities and counties
still taking that massive hit of millions and millions of dollars.
So they say, now you know, the state says they
(02:46):
can afford it. You talk to a CFO blazon goalie,
you talk to Governor DeSantis. They say they've overspent and
they got to real that back in they can still
do course services with the money we leave them, but
they say they can't. And so you've got cities and
counties starting to talk about charge more for, you know,
going to the park, like you might pay parking fees,
doing attrition, laying off staff, potentially offering severance packages, charging
(03:09):
more for emergency services.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
So is all of that worth the two hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
A month you might save as a homeowner, primary homeowner
in Florida. That's the question you have to start asking
yourself if you get closer to November.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, that's going to be the big debate over the
course of the next couple of months. I do think
it's interesting that the governor hasn't updated his own tax
saving calculator to reflect what was actually passed by the
state legislature and what's going to be on the ballot
in November. And it's good that there's a tool out
there that can give a more accurate assessment of what
(03:45):
you'll likely save, and we have reposted the link to
it on x You can follow us there at Ryan
Gorman Show, so you can find that tax calculator for yourself.
What I've been curious about, and I'm sure this is
something that you've spent some time looking at. For us,
we have discussed Miami Dade County, Brower County, Penelis, Hillsboro,
(04:10):
the bigger counties and the impact there. That's where you
see the eye popping numbers. You know, hundreds of millions
of dollars could be lost if this amendment passes. But
to me, it's really the smaller counties across the state
that rely more heavily on property taxes in particular for
their revenue. Some of those counties I just mentioned, they
(04:31):
have other funding mechanisms that they can use to generate revenue,
whether it's tourism things like that. But you're smaller counties
across the state, they rely more heavily just on property
tax revenue, and they have homes that aren't quite assessed
at the level where they would still get some revenue
(04:51):
coming in. That's where the bigger problems I think are
going to end up being.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yeah, I mean, you're exactly right.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
If you've got a coast, great, you probably have tourists,
you probably have people who are coming down snowbirds. All
of that really helps with your tax values and what
you collect. But adval rum is like eighty percent of
some of these rural counties, right, And so when they
talk about taking out a giant chunk of funds, we
(05:19):
had some of the rural counties tell the legislature when
the House was considering its measures, you know, going through
and saying, listen, I know you want us to maintain
funding levels, but because of how we're structured because we
don't have you know, a lot of commercial and we
don't have a lot of tourists secondary homes.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
What's going to happen is we're going to go bankrupt.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
We're not going to be able to meet that standard
that you want because we just don't have the money
for it. So that's why the governor originally floated this
grant program where you could potentially backfill some of these counties.
But if you look at the new proposal, that was
actually stripped out by the legislature. So the thought was,
of course that they could come back and do an
enacting bill and come up with some way to make
(05:59):
that whole.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
But we don't really have that plan yet.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
There doesn't exist a trust fund that's going to help
backfill those counties yet. That would be something a future
legislature would have to tackle. I was talking to Jeff Brandis,
who's been very critical of this plan. He's a former
state senator, and he just keeps asking is this attack
shift or is it an actual tax cut? And what
he says is a future legislature, they're going to be
a dumpster fire for them to inherit because they're going
(06:22):
to have to figure this all out. Whoever comes in
next is going to have to say, okay, what how
do we determine first of all who gets the money?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
And then second of all, are.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
These rural counties going to have to come up every
year to justify their existence? Are they're going to have
to come up and say, hey, please, can we continue
to be a county? Or are they going to get
locked into another rural county and become this giant plot
of land out there in the middle of central Florida.
I don't know, but those are questions that you know,
some of the lawmakers are going to have to answer
if this passes again, sixty percent threshold to get into
(06:54):
the constitution, So that's a high threshold for.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
This constitutional amendment.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
We'll have to see what voters think, and that's ultimately
what this whole comes down to. And what I think
so many cities and counties critics are trying to do
is informed voters on what exactly they're voting for.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
We're joined by Florida Capital reporter for e W Scripts
in Tampa Bay twenty eight four. Saunders is with us.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
But you know, even with a lower.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Savings amounts based on this new setup that the legislature
passed and the calculator that was created to take that
into account. You're still talking about, you know, over two
hundred dollars a month on a five hundred thousand dollars
assessed home. And for a lot of Floridians where they've
seen cost of living, whether it's property insurance in some cases,
(07:38):
property taxes, and then just a number of other things
increase in recent years. Uh, that's something that is going
to be really enticing for a lot of people because
it could certainly help them with their finances.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Heck, yes, I mean, if you're telling me, but then
I have to think I have to take it, Bratha.
They go, okay, so what am I gonna get charged
for in the backside of this?
Speaker 4 (08:05):
And I don't.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I mean, listen, there are so many different people out
there screaming so many different things.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
It's really hard to sift through what is truth and
what is not.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I've sat down with Angolia a number of times as CFO,
who assures me that his math is correct and that
this is overspending, that if you account for inflation, if
you count for growth, there's still more spending. But then
you talk to again, a guy like Brandis who says
you have to understand city and county funding.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
It's not a bucket, it's an ice tray.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Right, There are all these different silos, and you can't
move money around like they say you can.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
So I mean, listen, I'm.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
A reasonably inteligent dude, I'd like to think, and I
still struggle to understand the full impact of this, and
so it's gonna be vital that voters pay attention so
they know exactly what they're going to vote on come November.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
All right, Florida Capital reporter for e W Scripts in
Tampa Bay, twenty eight four as Saunders with us again.
You can check him out on X lots more at
FB Saunders forest really great reporting. Thanks so much for
taking a few minutes to come on the show.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Thanks for your time.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Ry make the Ryan Gorman Show podcast up pre set
on iHeartRadio, Presented by Arah and Farah Accident Attorneys, Tampa
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Farah and Farah,
Accident attorneys from Tampa.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Let's bring in Florida Capital Reporter for e W Scripts
in Tampa Bay twenty eight. Forest Saunders is with us.
You can follow him on x for lots more at
FB Saunders. Forest, thanks so much for taking a few
minutes to come back on with us. And you have
this great report out about Florida's property tax amendment, and
(00:27):
we focused a lot and I'm sure we'll talk about
this some over the course of the next couple of minutes,
but we spent a lot of time talking about the
impact of the property tax amendment on cities and counties
across the state. Your report took a look at a
new tool that offers an estimate on how this property
(00:48):
tax amendment will impact property tax payers, how much people
could save. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, So, I mean, right now, what we have out
there that you probably are aware of is the governor's website,
and even by his own admission, this does not exactly
port over what the legislature passed, right, So the legislature
changed some things, and primarily what they did in terms
of savings is they carved out school taxes on their proposals.
So their proposal protects the money that you pay into
(01:17):
school districts. And what that means ultimately is that you're
not going to save as much because that's a big
chunk of money, right, So easy Vachel.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
He's a guy from up in Duval County and he's
a tax expert.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
He wanted to figure out exactly what you might save,
so he created a website called myexemption check dot com.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
And what you can do is basically go on there.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
If you know your milite rate, great, but if you
just know you're you're basically your obsessed value, you can
throw that into his calculator and you can see what
you're going to earn. Now here's the rub, right, what
the governor says you're gonna save with my uh, you know,
our save our homes from excessive taxes, that web page
is going to be a lot more than what you
(01:56):
might actually save under this new plan because it does
account for that carve out of school taxes.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
And what I.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Found is you're gonna save about a third less, right,
So your monthlies are gonna be like a two hundred
and seven dollars savings If you have like a five
hundred thousand dollars home in Hillsboro versus like three hundred
and thirty or more under what the governor was originally proposing.
So that's that's a little less, right, and in some
(02:24):
cases it's it's considerably less. And then you start asking
yourself this question. This was Casey's point, is the benefit
to you enough to offset the cost to cities and
counties because cities and counties are still taking the hit, right,
whether school taxes are saved or not, cities and counties
still taking that massive hit of millions and millions of dollars.
So they say, now you know, the state says they
(02:46):
can afford it. You talk to a CFO blazon goalie,
you talk to Governor DeSantis. They say they've overspent and
they got to real that back in they can still
do course services with the money we leave them, but
they say they can't. And so you've got cities and
counties starting to talk about charge more for, you know,
going to the park, like you might pay parking fees,
doing attrition, laying off staff, potentially offering severance packages, charging
(03:09):
more for emergency services.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
So is all of that worth the two hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
A month you might save as a homeowner, primary homeowner
in Florida. That's the question you have to start asking
yourself if you get closer to November.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, that's going to be the big debate over the
course of the next couple of months. I do think
it's interesting that the governor hasn't updated his own tax
saving calculator to reflect what was actually passed by the
state legislature and what's going to be on the ballot
in November. And it's good that there's a tool out
there that can give a more accurate assessment of what
(03:45):
you'll likely save, and we have reposted the link to
it on x You can follow us there at Ryan
Gorman Show, so you can find that tax calculator for yourself.
What I've been curious about, and I'm sure this is
something that you've spent some time looking at. For us,
we have discussed Miami Dade County, Brower County, Penelis, Hillsboro,
(04:10):
the bigger counties and the impact there. That's where you
see the eye popping numbers. You know, hundreds of millions
of dollars could be lost if this amendment passes. But
to me, it's really the smaller counties across the state
that rely more heavily on property taxes in particular for
their revenue. Some of those counties I just mentioned, they
(04:31):
have other funding mechanisms that they can use to generate revenue,
whether it's tourism things like that. But you're smaller counties
across the state, they rely more heavily just on property
tax revenue, and they have homes that aren't quite assessed
at the level where they would still get some revenue
(04:51):
coming in. That's where the bigger problems I think are
going to end up being.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yeah, I mean, you're exactly right.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
If you've got a coast, great, you probably have tourists,
you probably have people who are coming down snowbirds. All
of that really helps with your tax values and what
you collect. But adval rum is like eighty percent of
some of these rural counties, right, And so when they
talk about taking out a giant chunk of funds, we
(05:19):
had some of the rural counties tell the legislature when
the House was considering its measures, you know, going through
and saying, listen, I know you want us to maintain
funding levels, but because of how we're structured because we
don't have you know, a lot of commercial and we
don't have a lot of tourists secondary homes.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
What's going to happen is we're going to go bankrupt.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
We're not going to be able to meet that standard
that you want because we just don't have the money
for it. So that's why the governor originally floated this
grant program where you could potentially backfill some of these counties.
But if you look at the new proposal, that was
actually stripped out by the legislature. So the thought was,
of course that they could come back and do an
enacting bill and come up with some way to make
(05:59):
that whole.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
But we don't really have that plan yet.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
There doesn't exist a trust fund that's going to help
backfill those counties yet. That would be something a future
legislature would have to tackle. I was talking to Jeff Brandis,
who's been very critical of this plan. He's a former
state senator, and he just keeps asking is this attack
shift or is it an actual tax cut? And what
he says is a future legislature, they're going to be
a dumpster fire for them to inherit because they're going
(06:22):
to have to figure this all out. Whoever comes in
next is going to have to say, okay, what how
do we determine first of all who gets the money?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
And then second of all, are.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
These rural counties going to have to come up every
year to justify their existence? Are they're going to have
to come up and say, hey, please, can we continue
to be a county? Or are they going to get
locked into another rural county and become this giant plot
of land out there in the middle of central Florida.
I don't know, but those are questions that you know,
some of the lawmakers are going to have to answer
if this passes again, sixty percent threshold to get into
(06:54):
the constitution, So that's a high threshold for.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
This constitutional amendment.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
We'll have to see what voters think, and that's ultimately
what this whole comes down to. And what I think
so many cities and counties critics are trying to do
is informed voters on what exactly they're voting for.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
We're joined by Florida Capital reporter for e W Scripts
in Tampa Bay twenty eight four. Saunders is with us.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
But you know, even with a lower.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Savings amounts based on this new setup that the legislature
passed and the calculator that was created to take that
into account. You're still talking about, you know, over two
hundred dollars a month on a five hundred thousand dollars
assessed home. And for a lot of Floridians where they've
seen cost of living, whether it's property insurance in some cases,
(07:38):
property taxes, and then just a number of other things
increase in recent years. Uh, that's something that is going
to be really enticing for a lot of people because
it could certainly help them with their finances.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Heck, yes, I mean, if you're telling me, but then
I have to think I have to take it, Bratha.
They go, okay, so what am I gonna get charged
for in the backside of this?
Speaker 4 (08:05):
And I don't.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I mean, listen, there are so many different people out
there screaming so many different things.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
It's really hard to sift through what is truth and
what is not.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I've sat down with Angolia a number of times as CFO,
who assures me that his math is correct and that
this is overspending, that if you account for inflation, if
you count for growth, there's still more spending. But then
you talk to again, a guy like Brandis who says
you have to understand city and county funding.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
It's not a bucket, it's an ice tray.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Right, There are all these different silos, and you can't
move money around like they say you can.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
So I mean, listen, I'm.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
A reasonably inteligent dude, I'd like to think, and I
still struggle to understand the full impact of this, and
so it's gonna be vital that voters pay attention so
they know exactly what they're going to vote on come November.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
All right, Florida Capital reporter for e W Scripts in
Tampa Bay, twenty eight four as Saunders with us again.
You can check him out on X lots more at
FB Saunders forest really great reporting. Thanks so much for
taking a few minutes to come on the show.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Thanks for your time.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Ry make the Ryan Gorman Show podcast up pre set
on iHeartRadio, Presented by Arah and Farah Accident Attorneys, Tampa
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