STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

More Latest News

• Stranger's charity puts bounce in family's tough year
• 'Mr. Arts of Canada' also calls Naples home
• Collier schools summer bus schedules announced

Share and Enjoy [?]

TALLAHASSEE — Competing plans working their way through Tallahassee would provide varying degrees of relief for Southwest Florida property owners.

As legislative leaders scramble to put together a compromise tax relief package to face voters in January, the outcome of negotiations over the next several days will have a direct impact on who will benefit and how much local property owners save.

Both chambers want to trim about $11 billion in local taxes over the next four years.

House leaders Friday unveiled a revised proposal that provides more relief to commercial property owners and snowbirds than a Senate plan released a few days earlier.

“While both the House and Senate accomplished an extraordinary amount of progress this week, we kept hearing legitimate concerns from Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate,” said Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, in a statement. “We have addressed those concerns and adhered to the basics of the proposal we began with at the beginning of the week.’’

On Wednesday, the Senate approved a less-aggressive package of savings, based largely on agreements reached with House negotiators prior to the special session.

“While there are those who want more tax relief, and those who want less, I believe this is a tax relief package that voters will embrace on Jan. 29 -- because it will result in lower taxes without harming education,” Senate President Ken Pruitt said in a statement.

Going into the session, both chambers proposed doubling the homestead exemption to $50,000, but not including school taxes in the second $25,000 exemption.

Under that scenario, Collier County homeowners would save $437 in property taxes, up from $299 in the homestead exemption now enjoyed by people who own their own homes.

In Lee County, the homestead exemption would increase from $420 annually to $550 a year, an increase of $130.

In its revised plan, the House is more generous.

Modeled after a Democratic proposal, the plan calls for increasing the homestead exemption to 40 percent of a county’s median home value. However, the exemption wouldn’t apply to taxes paid to school districts and would remain in effect until a homeowner’s accrued Save Our Homes benefit exceeds the 40 percent level.

With the second highest property valuation in the state, Collier homeowners under that scenario would see their guaranteed exemption increase to $2,277 per year.

Lee County residents would see their tax break increase to $2,624.

Other differences exist.

The chambers differ on the level of relief for low-income seniors. A House plan would eliminate property taxes altogether for the estimated 500,000 elderly homeowners whose household income is roughly $24,000 or less.

The Senate has provided a less-generous package that provides all low-income seniors with a flat $100,000 homestead exemption.

Also in the mix is a House plan to extend a 5-percent cap on property assessments to commercial property and second homeowners. The Senate has no such provision.

Contact Michael Peltier at mpeltier1234@comcast.net