Increasing the Homestead Exemption

[Aristocles]

According to the Jacksonville Daily Record, the governor's plan to increase the homestead exemption will have a negative impact on downtown revitalization. Here's the article URL: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2026/jun/03/deegan-property-tax-vote-would-squelch-city-funding-for-downtown-revitalization/
Any thoughts on how accurate this is?

[thelakelander]

It will be a negative on just about anything being funded at the local level. The big projects relying on local public incentives will fizzle out when that financial faucet is turned off but the impact will be felt far outside of downtown.

Every neighborhood will take a hit as well. Its all simple math, once you remove the politics from the discussion. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip.

Eliminating a major revenue source, also eliminates or severely reduces what it currently funds.

Ultimately, we get what we pay for. The best way to be a slum and be raggedy is to not invest in your well being. My prediction is most people refuse to read or count, so we'll FAFO and then get nickel and dimed in other ways to make up for the budgeting gaps and frustration that follows.

[Aristocles]

Councilman Carlucci said there were other ways to make up the funding (fees), but held off on proposing anything definite because he wants to see how the voters treat the idea. Also, I'm assuming the UF Jacksonville campus in La Villa, being publicly funded, isn't going to be impacted by this -?

I have an idea where they can cut spending to protect downtown revitalization credits: nix the U2C.

[Charles Hunter]

Councilman Carlucci said there were other ways to make up the funding (fees), but held off on proposing anything definite because he wants to see how the voters treat the idea. Also, I'm assuming the UF Jacksonville campus in La Villa, being publicly funded, isn't going to be impacted by this -?

I have an idea where they can cut spending to protect downtown revitalization credits: nix the U2C.

Incentives to UF might be affected. But, if you mean the UF doesn't pay property tax, so it won't be affected by the 'savings'.

Defunding the U2C won't counteract any losses from the property tax, as the U2C is funded from the Sales Tax.

[jaxlongtimer]

Eliminating the property tax will result in massive fees everywhere.  Government services are not going to be tolerated to shrink, especially public safety, parks and recreation, environment, garbage and cleanups, road and sidewalk maintenance, etc.

Expect sales tax, permit fees, park fees, parking fees, occupational license and other business fees, gas taxes, etc to mushroom.  Also, real estate taxes on businesses and rental properties that would continue on.  New fees and taxes will arise to replace the lost revenue too.  Unfortunately, most of this will be regressive, hitting the poor the most heavily.

We already have a cap on residential property tax increases of 3% or inflation, whichever is lower, plus numerous exemptions.  The best would be to exempt the first $100,000 or other amount of ALL residential living units including rental properties so renters don't take a hit either.  Heck, go to exempting $250,000 or more, but don't eliminate the tax entirely.  After all, residents are the main beneficiaries of City services so they should be willing to pay for what they get within reason.

DeSantis proposal is on par with Curry trying to sell JEA.  One hit wonders leaving a trail of problems for others to clean up.  So selfish.

[thelakelander]

Yeah, the U2C is a different pot of money and even if it is cut, that pot can't be used on random downtown revitalization projects and gimmicks.

As jaxlongtimer just stated and CM Carlucci hinted, expect getting hit with massive fees elsewhere.

At the end of the day, the person who actually needs help with affordability issues is going to get hit the hardest.