Amendment 3 Has Me Asking County Government One Simple Question: Where’s My Commission?

Amendment 3 Has Me Asking County Government One Simple Question: Where’s My Commission?

I’ve been selling real estate in Tampa Bay since 1991, and Amendment 3 has me asking county government a question I probably should have asked years ago.

Where’s my commission?

When I help an investor buy a property and that investment makes money, I normally get paid for helping put the deal together. Apparently, I’ve been helping county government make money for more than 35 years, and I’ve been doing it for free.

Here’s what I mean.

Florida’s Save Our Homes benefit can keep the assessed value of a longtime homesteaded property substantially below its current market value. When that property changes ownership, however, it can lose that accumulated assessment limitation and be reassessed under the rules applicable to the new owner. That can create a tremendous increase in property tax revenue.And I’m not talking about hypothetical examples. I see it happen in the real world.

I recently sold one home where, following the sale and reassessment, the annual property taxes increased by more than $10,000.

I sold another where the increase was more than $20,000 a year.

Think about that second one for a minute. If that tax bill remained at that level, that’s more than $100,000 in additional property taxes over just five years compared with the previous tax bill. And government can continue benefiting from that increased taxable value long after everyone involved in the original sale has been paid. Meanwhile, I find the buyer. I help negotiate the contract. I deal with inspections, appraisals, financing, title issues and all the problems that come with getting a property successfully to the closing table.  The county waits for us to close and then, when applicable, benefits from the reassessment year after year.

No thank you card. No Christmas gift. They haven’t even left me a tip.

So, county government, where’s my commission?

Obviously, there’s a serious point underneath the humor.

Florida’s real estate market has helped build an enormous property tax base. As properties appreciate and change ownership, reassessments can generate substantially more tax revenue. Multiply that by thousands of real estate transactions and the numbers become enormous.  Government has benefited from Florida’s growth. Government has benefited from rising property values. Government has benefited when properties change ownership and taxable values reset.  Yet now that Amendment 3 could provide meaningful property tax relief to Florida homeowners, we keep hearing the same argument: Government can’t afford it.

My question is, what about the homeowners?

We have gone since 2008 without this kind of meaningful increase in the homestead exemption while home prices, homeowners insurance, maintenance costs and virtually every other expense associated with owning a home have increased dramatically.  I’m in the trenches of the real estate market every day. I see retirees worried about whether they can afford to remain in homes they have owned for decades. I see young families struggling to purchase their first homes. I see homeowners getting squeezed by property taxes, insurance and the overall cost of living.

Families have had to adjust their budgets. Retirees have had to adjust their budgets. Homebuyers have had to adjust their budgets. Maybe government can adjust its budget too.

So after more than 35 years of selling Tampa Bay real estate and watching property after property generate increased tax revenue following sales and reassessments, I’m asking one more time:

County government, where’s my commission?

Because if government is going to benefit from Florida’s booming real estate values and collect thousands of additional dollars from properties after they change hands, year after year, don’t tell homeowners that returning some meaningful property tax relief to them is suddenly impossible. If you are going to keep saying no, at least kiss us first!

Vote YES on Amendment 3.

Vincent Arcuri
Tampa Bay Realtor since 1991

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