A Year With Charlie Crist

The Opinion Letter is framed. It was short and sweet, as it had appeared in the St. PetersburghTimes on Janurary 17, 2007. I submitted the letter upon the victory of Charlie Crist as the newly elected Governor of Florida. I wrote about “a sense of relief, anticipating some major changes in our daily lives”. The words of praise were heartfelt.

I hadn’t considered myself overly optimistic in my belief that he would resolve the hardships of homeowner insurance, property taxes and, perhaps the most important of all, education. This January, my disappointments are three-fold.

Although Amendment 1 passed the required 60% popular vote in the Florida Primary on Janurary 29th, it has very little positive affect on my personal property tax bill. My home insurance continued to rise after the Florida Legislature passed a bill that was supposed to actually lower the premium. Nothing has been done about education. Funding for schools is further in question because of sinking property values and the passage of Amendment 1.

Despite Governor Crist's shortfalls on his promises, my concerns are still dwarfed by my faith that his full term in office will provide a legacy of monumental proportions.

Another letter that adorns the wall in my den, dated January 20, 2007, overshadows my own. The glass-encased 8 ½ by 11 page bears the Great Seal of The State of Florida with the letterhead reading Charlie Crist, Governor. His signature accompanies the words “Thank you very much for your most kind words!”

Although my approval rating of the Governor is somewhat diminished, I maintain the belief that, in time, “he’ll earn the title of Superman – to me at least”.

Aftermath of Amendment 1

Whew! Aren’t I the lucky one! I figure there’s a whopping $240 savings on my typically average home value now that Amendment One is said and done. I’ll still have an end-of-the-year tax bill that’s three times that of my neighbors.

And, as Property Appraiser Alvin Mazourek repeatedly informed us during last fall’s Hernando County Budget hearings, there’ll be an additional reduction because the value of my home plummeted in 2007; property taxes are billed a year in arrears.

I’ll still have an end-of-the-year bill that is three times that of my neighbors who have stayed in the same home in excess of ten years. I’ll still be paying a far higher share of taxes than those same neighbors who maintain the same level of services from County Government. Hundreds of other homeowners in the county are right there beside me although they’re necessarily neighbors.

Those same neighbors whose tax bills are a third on my own can downsize to another location and save their homes much more easily than myself. If I should downsize I would still pay three times as much in property and school taxes as they. I’ll cross my fingers next fall when the County Commissioners place their votes for the 2009 budget and hope they don’t inch up the millage rate. We might even get it socked to us bad if the three incumbents fail in their re-elected bids in the General Election – it may be a season of sour grapes as they take vengeance on the electorate.

I can take the overall savings in property taxes of maybe $400 and apply it to my home insurance premium that was never reduced as promised by Governor Crist.

There are those who made out like bandits from the passage of Amendment 1, but there are also just as many of us still behind bars with a financial responsibility that foresees no reprieve. We’ve been sentenced to a lifetime of inequity because the Florida Legislature can rest easy that the people have mandates the status quo. There will no longer be the need to pursue other tax reform.

I feel the only way for me to make out ahead is to fall backward by selling my current home and relocate to a trailer valued little more than $50,000; I would have true property tax and insurance relief. I can’t expect it otherwise.