Two more reasons not to support Amendment 3…

By now, everyone who is seriously evaluating Amendment 3 has heard or read all of the arguments against it including the loss of local control over county finances and operations, loss of financial support for our local charities who are doing yeoman’s work supporting the less fortunate and the fact that lower property taxes will have to be offset by higher fees and sales taxes to make up for the lost revenue caused by Amendment 3.

Well, here are a couple more objections that maybe haven’t occurred to you yet. 1) More people move to Florida, because the property taxes are lower. We already have 23.5 million people living here plus another 1 million snowbirds who come down in the winter. Anyone who has driven around Lakewood Ranch or between Palmetto and Sarasota on Tamiami Trail or between the same two cities on I-75 would probably agree that there are already enough cars on the road. Do we really want any more? Not me.

And 2) the State of Florida does not have enough cash on their balance sheet to fully back the $13.3 billion which the S.O.F. Revenue Estimating Conference will be needed to replace the lost property tax revenues for the 67 Florida counties. According to the latest financial report, unrestricted cash on Florida’s balance sheet is $11.2 billion. Subtracting $11.2 billion from $13.3 billion shows a deficit of $2.1 billion. Which begs the question, where will the additional funds to backstop Amendment 3 come from? A quick answer … more debt and higher fees and taxes. Not to mention there will be less money available for hurricane relief and other essential state-provided services if it is all earmarked for the 67 Florida counties that will be financially constrained if Amendment 3 passes

Amendment 3 is a big “NO” vote.

Mike Meehan, CFA, MBA