Few are fooled by Amendment 3
As a former Longboat Key commissioner and mayor, I went through the municipal budget cycle many times.
Amendment 3will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot and, if approved by 60% of voters, would increase the exemption from property taxes for homesteaded owners from $50,000 per year to $250,000 over two years, with further exemptions envisioned.
As almost every contributor to this newspaper has opined, Amendment 3 is a terrible idea.
If adopted, it would cause enormous pain and uncertainty for all Florida communities and most residents.
The reasons for this view have been stated and restated with near unanimity by towns, counties, charities, sheriffs, police departments, firefighters, libraries and voter advocate and citizens’ groups – and even by school
districts, which are immunized from the most direct effects of Amendment 3.
Rather than itemize those views again, I want to focus on a recent, startling report in the Herald Tribune: pro-Amendment 3 “parties” have so far outspent anti-amendment advocates 38 to 1!
How and why can this be when nearly every printed word regarding Amendment 3 opposes it?
Apparently, Florida's real estate industry has come out in force to support the ballot measure and has brought its checkbook.
Does it believe Amendment 3 would mean free money for homebuyers, resulting in more commissions for its members?
There is no such thing as free money.
Fortunately, voters are beginning to understand that Amendment 3 represents a tax shift – not a tax cut – and that it could result in a massive reduction in services, harming many who most need them.
Ken Schneier, Longboat Key
Schneier is a member of Miracle on the Key, a multipartisan group that opposes Amendment 3.
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: If Amendment 3 is so great, why do so many oppose it? | Letter
