Curiosity and anxiety. Those seem to be the two most common responses to property tax reform in Florida.
The legislature is working on several iterations and some type of change is likely to make its way to the November ballot and would require 60% of voters to approve. Any change wouldn’t take effect until the 2028 budget year, which begins on Oct. 1, 2027.
On Feb. 10, Broward County Property Appraiser Marty Kiar released an overview of each bill and their estimated impacts on Wilton Manors and Broward County.
Backstory
Kiar says this all got started because Gov. Ron DeSantis saw an angry tweet about property taxes and the fact that you never really “pay off” your property. People started talking about eliminating all property taxes. But seeing as the taxes are the primary source of funding for towns and cities, the revenue has to be made up somewhere.
Polls quickly found that as much as people hate property taxes, they think the likely alternative, raising the sales tax to between 13% and 17%, even more distasteful. Now competing proposals are working their way through Tallahassee.
HJR 201: Elimination of Non-School Property Tax for Homesteaded Properties
This would get rid of all ad valorem taxes except school funding. Three thousand two hundred and forty-seven Wilton properties would be affected. The median savings would be $3,326, and would cut the city's funding by $6.25 million or 39.5%.
HJR 203: Phased Out Elimination of Non-School Property Tax for Homesteads
This phases out non-school taxes over 10 years, allowing towns and cities to adjust. Broward would see a 10.7% hit the first year. Median savings would be $1,400 and be an 11.7% hit to the city. This also mandates funding reductions to first responders.
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