Fiscally Prudent??

Many of us made a choice during the last several years to stay put in our homes and not get caught up in the real estate market boom. It has been tempting to sell our homes at a high price to buy a new home but the practical side of being fiscally prudent stopped many of us when faced with the practical questions of long term budgets necessary for home ownership. Some of the major reasons for not selling our properties at a high rate to rob our equity was the fact any new home purchase would have a very large property tax value attached to it. The Save Our Homes Amendment, passed by voters in 1992, has protected our investments from being over burdened by high property taxes with a 3% maximum cap per year. Yesterday, Governor Jeb Bush appointed a 15-member committee to remove inequities in Florida's property taxes. The focus of this committee will be to explore the inequities between the older homes that took advantage of the Save Our Home Amendment and those that bought homes over the last several years at very high market values. The Governor and the Florida Legislature's Taxation and Budget Reform Committee should remember the Save Our Homes Amendment was passed overwhelming by the citizens of this state to, in part, curb the spending of our state officials by controlling the increases on our property taxes. Those of us that are fiscally prudent with our finances are wondering why this committee was formed by our governor. A better thought for a governor appointed committee would have been to revamp the property insurance industry that is crippling the state of Florida and was virtually ignored by our Florida Legislature in this year's session.