Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Property Tax topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Winter Haven officials warn state property-tax proposals could shrink city services
Summary
City officials and a former mayor told the commission that proposed state changes to homestead-ad valorem exemptions could leave a material budget gap and force reductions to services. City staff said the city is preparing public education and monitoring competing proposals in the Florida Legislature.
Former Winter Haven Mayor Jeff Potter told the City Commission during public comment that proposed changes in Tallahassee could strip tens of millions from the city's property-tax base.
"We get $25,000,000 from ad valorem," Potter said, adding that his own annual tax bill is about $1,300 and urging commissioners to press the state delegation.
City Manager T. Michael corrected some figures and described the scale of the potential impact. "City of ad valorem property taxes for fiscal year '26 total about $31,000,000," he said, adding that roughly $10,500,000 of that comes from homesteaded properties and that police and fire services together cost the city about $34,000,000 a year.
T. Michael said the legislature's proposed measures are inconsistent across chambers and that any constitutional change to property-tax treatment would ultimately go to the ballot. "Whatever happens does have to go to a ballot because your property taxes, and that legislation is part of the constitution," he said.
Commissioners and staff described outreach underway. T. Michael said the city's "City University" education effort has spent weeks briefing neighborhood ambassadors and that the city plans to make property-tax impacts a central message at the upcoming State of the City address and at community meetings.
Several commissioners who attended Florida League of Cities meetings said the proposals under consideration range from targeted changes to broader rewrites, and warned that limitations on utility rates charged outside the city or on transfers from enterprise funds would compound any shortfall from ad valorem reductions.
The commission did not take formal action on the matter at the meeting. City officials said they will continue to monitor bills in both the House and Senate and to educate residents about trade-offs between taxes and services.
