I know that in Polk County where I lived, revenues went way, way up and the local governments managed to spend every penny of it. Now they claim that if some rationality is applied to the property and other taxes, oh no! they will have to cut essential services to......the children, minorities, take your pick.
The county quadrupled “impact” fees on new homes and in doing so have planted a solid blow to the groin of struggling builders. It’s become more practical to buy an existing home. The irony is that the county commissioners are all republicans who were voted into office because of democrats that raised taxes over the objections of the voters. More proof that party affiliation means a lot less at the local level.
I can only laugh heartily at the fate of "struggling builders" in Floridum. Florida has had the worst version of illegal builder-appraiser-lender collusion outside of anywhere but a few places in southern CA and Las Vegas.
That right there is EXACTLY the problem. County and city governments are way too generous with OUR money, and property tax values reflect that. The way to fix this is to address it at the county level- by electing people who can control themselves and resist the temptation to spray our tax money all over the place.