The high cost of the property tax amendment

Florida voters on Tuesday passed a new constitutional amendment reducing property taxes. In classic conservative style, the amendment will slash $9.2 billion in tax revenue between now and 2013, and $7.7 billion of that will have to be cut from the budgets of nearly every municipality in the state. And remember, the legislature previously cut $15 billion in property taxes over the same period.

The impact of this enormous, unprecedented revenue loss is going to be felt for years to come. Already counties and local governments are trying to figure out how they're going to cope ... if they can at all.

Many said this round of cuts is going to be tougher - and could require layoffs and a reduction in services. Already, most cities and counties have a hiring freeze.

"People have to understand this: You can't get more for less," West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel said.

County Administrator Bob Weisman said he's directed all county department heads to prepare budgets that are 5 percent smaller than last year. He said "it's very possible" that county employees will be laid off.

Ultimately, he said, county commissioners could have to decide between two unpopular ideas: Budget cuts or an increase in the property tax rate.

Palm Beach County government expects to collect $35 million less next year, assuming the property tax rate stays the same. Fire-rescue officials predict an $11 million loss and county libraries, $2 million.

Many officials were stunned Wednesday that the amendment passed because it needed 60 percent voter approval to become part of the state's constitution.

Boynton Beach City Manager Kurt Bressner e-mailed city employees Wednesday morning about the tax amendment, which should result in about $3.5 million less in revenues in the next fiscal year.

"I was surprised by the results," Bressner said. "But it is what it is, I'm afraid."

And, as usual in this fucked-up state, one of the hardest hit areas will be public education.

The amendment was expected to cost public schools statewide $1.5 billion over five years. In hopes of quashing fears that the proposal would hurt schools, Gov. Charlie Crist released his budget recommendation early to show an increase for education spending. But lawmakers panned the recommendation as unrealistic.

"We're hopeful that the legislature will follow the governor's lead and continue to hold education harmless," said Michael Burke, the school district's chief financial officer. If not, the school district expects to collect $12.8'million less in the first year.

Cities are going to face layoffs and extraordinary cuts in the services they provide, because they simply won't be able to afford them. Sure, as Palm Beach County School District superintendent Art Johnson said in the article, "People vote with their pocketbooks," but I think the problem goes deeper than that.

At the surface, there's an enormous lack of understanding among most citizens, in Florida and nationwide, about the importance of sufficient tax revenue to support the services we expect as members of this society. But I've given this some thought, ever since my radio show on Monday when I introduced this idea, and it seems obvious that conservatism is fundamentally a selfish ideology. Why else would people vote to save themselves a relative pittance in property taxes while gutting our counties, cities, and schools? Moreover, the tax cut benefits only property owners -- the wealthier among us -- but those who don't own property (renters) will incur the brunt of the cuts in social services. And if you say that the landlords will pass the tax savings on to the renters, well, don't be silly -- you and I both know that's not going to happen.

So, once again, we've cut off our nose to spite our face. And this problem isn't going to go away in a year or two. Even if we elect Democrats to office in droves (and we should), we're going to experience tremendous problems across Florida thanks to the selfishness of the Republicans, led by Gov. Crist (whose face adorned pro-amendment billboards all over America's Wang™).

And so the rich get richer. Why, it's the American way!