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Miramar lobbyists warn property-tax changes could hit city budgets as session heats up
Summary
City-contracted lobbyists told Miramar's commission that state budget gridlock spared municipalities from some harmful bills this year, but that proposals to change property-tax rules and other measures (sovereign immunity, CRAs) could return and would meaningfully affect local budgets.
Tamara Gee: The Miramar City Commission met in workshop format to hear state and federal lobbying updates and to identify priority projects for 2026.
Jared Rosenstein of Capital City Consulting said the recent Florida legislative session ended without a final budget and that, in the short term, that gridlock benefited municipalities by killing or stalling legislation with potential fiscal impacts. "If you're not at the table, oftentimes they're on the menu," Rosenstein said, summarizing why the delegation work matters for cities.
Rosenstein told commissioners to expect renewed debate over property-tax changes, including targeted millage reductions and proposals to shift revenue to consumption taxes. He said any constitutional change would require the legislature to place measures on the ballot: "The legislature has to put something on the ballot in order for there to be a change on property taxes in the Florida Constitution."
Commissioners and lobbyists discussed several policy threats that could re-emerge, including sovereign-immunity adjustments and amendments affecting community redevelopment agencies (CRAs). Speakers cautioned that proposals such as broad homestead-exemption changes or portability rules could sharply reduce local ad valorem revenues; Rhonda Brown relayed comments from a Miami-Dade delegation meeting, warning that raising homestead caps or portability could "decimate the entire budget" for small cities.
The workshop closed with a direction to staff and the lobby teams to keep commissioners apprised in real time and to return with a prioritized, shorter list of projects to pursue in Tallahassee.
