Property tax committee wraps 2-day session, no proposals yet

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — All eyes are on the state capitol as Florida lawmakers meet again to consider what's next in the property tax debate.

So far, no official property tax proposals have been discussed or debated on by state house members. Instead, it was two days' worth of presentations and discussion about what folks back home are concerned about and hoping for in the future.

Day 1 of the property tax select committee brought four hours' worth of presentations covering mileage rates, school funding, and concerns coming from fiscally constrained counties.

Day 2 focused on what constituents and local governments had to stay on the matter, as well as presentations from the Governor's administration and Florida DOGE.

"What people really ask me every time I start to talk about property taxes, yeah sure we want to talk about that, but what we really want to talk about is homeowners' insurance," said State Representative Dianne Hart, D-Tampa.

From the very beginning of this debate, Hart has begged the question: what about property insurance concerns?

"At what point are you all going to deal with the fact that our insurance rates are constantly going up? So somewhere in between these taxes, we need to figure out what it is we're going to be doing as it relates to insurance," Hart said.

As of now, no official proposals are coming from the select committee, but Co-chair Vicki Lopez, R-Miami, assured that while it may feel like a dragged-out process, they want to do it right.

"What we're looking at is a process that involves 67 counties, 411 municipalities and something that then has to be applied across that and do it in a way that doesn't impact 1 so unequivocally over another," said Co-chair Toby Overdorf, (R-Palm City).

Leading his members on the issue, House Speaker Danny Perez, R-Miami, made a stop by the capitol on Tuesday, greeting members of his committee, as the road to a final property tax proposal still lies in the distance.

For those excited about hearing final proposals, committee chairs say they are aiming for a November - December timeline, in order to meet the House Speaker's deadline of delivering something by the first week of session.