Pasco County still is confronting some taxing issues.
In last week's election, more than 122,000 Pasco voters said they favored an additional tax break for homeowners.
But more than 99,000 voters said ''yes'' to a new property tax to expand the detention center in Land O' Lakes.
Guess which one won?
Thanks to prior state legislators, proposed amendments to Florida's Constitution require a 60-percent plurality to become effective. The proposed Amendment One, giving a third $25,000 homestead exemption to some homeowners, collected support from 58 percent of voters statewide. It performed a little better in Pasco where 59.87 percent of voters said "yes.'' But overall, it failed.
The jail, meanwhile, garnered 50.39 percent. It passed.
We point out all this because part of the county's motivation for seeking the jail and three other bond referendums, totaling $241 million, was the genuine expectation that voters would approve Amendment One. It wasn't deceitful; it was a good-faith acknowledgement. Nearly everyone figured the extra tax break would cost the county $12.1 million next year in its general and fire department funds.
Now, there will be a windfall.
So, let's pose a question. If county officials figured to make do with $12 million less, should they consider lowering the property tax rate in 2020 to reflect that? Should homeowners be compensated for supporting the referendums?
"Absolutely,'' said Richard Golden, 68, a retiree living in San Antonio.
"I think they need to do more than that,'' said Dennis Smith of Wesley Chapel, a former member of the Pasco Planning Commission. "I agree that would be a partial solution, but I think they ought to go after developers for this stuff. Until they start doing things with impact fees, we suffer the consequences through higher taxes and lower quality of life.''
Smith is familiar with a similar argument on a prior tax issue. The original Penny for Pasco sales tax, approved by voters in 2004, included a promised reduction in the separate local property tax charged for school construction. Later, when the state lowered that maximum tax rate to 1.5 mills — matching the reduced level charged by the Pasco School District — Smith publicly advocated for a further local tax cut to one mill to reflect the intent of Penny promise.
He didn't find many takers. He still calls Penny for Pasco "millions for developers.''
There is another oddity tied to Amendment One. Property Appraiser Gary Joiner said only 9,000 homeowners stood to benefit, because the new exemption would have applied only to homes valued at more than $100,000. In other words, 122,000 voters voters supported a tax break for Pasco's 9,000 wealthiest homeowners.
A separate consideration of the four successful new bond issues is what this means for future ballot questions. School district officials, for instance, are kicking around the idea of asking voters for a future tax to fund higher salaries for teachers.
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Explore all your optionsThat thinking began in earnest after the Aug. 28 primary and continued through last week's general election. Over those two elections, voters in 18 counties approved ballot measures for school initiatives, including neighboring Hillsborough County, where the public authorized a half-cent sales tax increase for schools' capital spending.
"It did occur to us that we may have missed an opportunity,'' said Pasco's deputy school superintendent Ray Gadd. "Maybe the general public is recognizing that teacher salaries are problematic and that perhaps the Legislature isn't meeting the needs of most of the local districts to help fund teacher salaries.''
That recognition might be fleeting.
In Pasco, voters also returned to office four Republican state representatives and senators who campaigned on how well they're treating public schools in Tallahassee.
Contact C.T. Bowen at ctbowen@tampabay.com or (813) 435-7306. Follow @CTBowen2.