Pending Property Tax Relief in Term Paper

But some cities like Oakland Park say they have planned ahead for the cuts (Wyman, Hafenbrack & Kleindienst, 2007). Regardless, the loss of revenue will include firing many employees, like the 1,000 Miami-Dade County employees who already learned the county was eliminating their jobs to provide property tax relief in 2007-2008. Countywide, if the new reforms are passed, 1,200 positions will be eliminated in Miami-Dade. Only 375 of them are administrative positions. Most of them involve transit, corrections, parks, aviation. However, the state assures residents that necessary members of the fire and police department will not be laid off in any counties, and some positions targeted for cutbacks will be transferred to other departments, and simply not renewed ("County Budget Provides Tax Relief, Loss of Jobs," Local10 News, 2007).

Despite the concerns about the loss of jobs, the consensus is that the relief is necessary, especially for low-income seniors. As property values in Florida have skyrocketed in recent years, property taxes are a function of property value.During the housing market boom homeowners on fixed incomes struggled. The state government became dependant on property taxes as the single largest source of revenue. In year 2005-2006, $25.7 billion in property taxes were levied by the state. By comparison, only $11.2 billion in such taxes were levied in 1995, before the housing boom. Floridians need relief -- and also the state must break its dependence on inflated property values, given the recent downturn in the market and the subprime mortgage crisis.

Works Cited

Calzadilla-Fiallo, Elizabeth. "Miami-Dade County Fire Chiefs to Discuss Proposed Tax

Rollback at News Conference." 11 Jun 2007. 9 Dec 2007. http://www.miamidade.gov/MDFR/advisories/07-06-14-tax-rollback.asp

County Budget Provides Tax Relief, Loss of Jobs." Local10 News. 13 Jul 2007.

Dec 2007. http://www.local10.com/news/13676124/detail.html

Wood, Ian. "Property Taxes Weigh Heavily on Floridians." NBC 6.

20 May 2007. Updated 6 Jun 2007. 9 Dec 2007. http://www.nbc6.net/newsnet/13413744/detail.html

Wyman, Scott, Josh Hafenbrack & Linda Kleindienst. "Cities, counties….....