Q&A of the Day – The Martin County Taxpayers Association Makes the Property Tax Argument
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station page in the iHeart app.
Today’s entry: Today’s Q&A is a unique one. Rather than my answer of a listener’s question, I’m turning it over to Darlene Vanriper, the Executive director of the Martin County Taxpayers Association. Earlier this week, after my Top 3 Takeaways entitled: We Waste Our Money, But Government Doesn’t? Darlene sent me a series of Q&A’s pertaining to local government spending/decisions and property taxes that she’d addressed with concerned citizens in her community. Simply put it’s the best breakdown to date during the current debate about the future of property taxes within Florida. While it’s specific to Martin County, the depiction is largely applicable for many smaller counties across the state, which is an angle I’ve not comprehensively addressed to date. So rather than reinventing the wheel, here’s Darlene’s Q&A...
Bottom Line: Article on Elimination of Property Taxes 2026
<<Going through the Florida House currently are versions of a bill to somehow achieve property tax relief. Little birdies in Tallahassee tell the MCTA that the Governor will probably end up calling a special session to get what he wants, which is total elimination. As you can imagine, MCTA is getting a lot of questions as to where we stand on this issue. It’s not so easy.
Let’s break it down so you can make up your mind.
How and why is this being considered? While we cannot speak for our Governor, we can see what the state’s CFO is up to. Blaise Ingolia has been perusing the budgets of many counties and cities throughout the state and coming up with what he calls “wasteful spending”. Wasteful spending is subjective. His findings include $150,000 a year to a management company that brings drag shows to the city’s theater and $300,000 for an equity-focused strategic plan and residential “equity survey” by Pensacola. Orlando has spent $460,000 since 2020 to count trees. St. Petersburg has paid $258,000 to support Pride events and on and on. Political, no doubt. But it suggests a question.
What is a want and what is a need and who decides?
Here in the County we are concerned with, those decisions are largely determined by our elected board of County Commissioners. Five people WE, the people, chose to wield common sense and rationality in their choices on our behalf. And yet they are susceptible to and because they are accountable to WE, the people, their choices may puzzle us. Former County Commissioner Doug Smith was famous for saying that ‘There’s a constituent for everything’. He was absolutely right. Are you a baseball fan? Do you love to walk? Do you have kids? Most of us would lobby for any number of things. So the Commissioners do the best that they can to please as many as they can while attempting to keep their positions. We trust them. They live here after all. It’s a small county, so many of us even know them. What becomes apparent though is that they may listen to a disproportionate number of us. The squeaky wheel gets the grease after all and it is difficult to ignore a commission room full of US. So, we get things like Sailfish Splash Waterpark which you can read an assessment of their first 5 years here: ___________________________, a gorgeous albeit completely frivolous walkway through the mangroves at what expense we are still trying to pin down. We end up with more conservation land. And that sounds really warm and fuzzy until you find out that about half of the County is owned by some form of government already (South Florida Water Management District alone owns thousands of Martin acres). Or, until you find out that what the County REALLY needs is a $70 million public works complex. So, ask yourself a question. If those 2 items were put on a ballot as an either-or choice, which would you vote for? MCTA would love to hear your answers. You see how we can end up with things that we might realize down the road were really only wants.
We, the people, are offered wants and needs as though they are interchangeable and piecemeal. The County Commissioners could do a better job of keeping us informed by explaining the County from a 10,000 foot view. They are really the only ones who know what the left hand is doing.
Keeping US informed would not be an easy task. Foremost there are limited avenues available. There is the County website, of course. But most don’t go to it. Commissioner Hetherington puts out a newsletter and Commissioner Ciampi has early morning breakfasts. Kudos to them for trying. But retirees and blue-collar workers are not likely to attend those breakfasts. Hetherington’s newsletter only goes as far as her email list.
If only there was some investigative reporting. There’s not. MCTA believes that professional writers could make even a banal county commission meeting interesting enough to read about. Then WE would know where our tax dollars are going. Special interests seem to call in the articles that newspapers print. Perhaps that’s why they are failing. So, citizens get “news” from social media which is dangerously irresponsible.
The Commissioners do need to ask more questions or better questions. They rely on staff too much. We don’t mean to infer that there is anything nefarious going on with staff. Oh, there might be a Post-It notepad in someone’s purse, but who can resist? MCTA has found the county staff to be accessible and honest as long as you know the questions to ask. Think of it, they have a job to do, and they want to do it to their best ability. They also want to keep their jobs and if they can expand their position, its job security. It’s human and reasonable. Commissioners need to press. Instead of asking if an item is making money and accepting a “yes”, they can press and ask if there are extenuating circumstances ie. Are there subsidies or indirect allocations propping up a potential boondoggle? At least 3 of the Commissioners have been there long enough to understand this. They need to meet more often with the County Comptroller. The Comptroller has much interesting information. She (Carolyn Timmann) is independent of the Commission and a valuable and objective resource.
Staff can be more forthcoming. We hope, and we have not witnessed otherwise, that staff feels uninhibited with their opinions and even advice to Commissioners. They are professionals as Commissioner Ciampi likes to point out. The Commissioners’ doors should always be open to them, rain or shine. Consider though, that it is their job to carry out the wishes of the Commissioners. It would only be human to put that responsibility before any, even welcome, constructive criticism.
Let’s move on to the WHY NOW of the Elimination of Property Taxes in Florida.
Well, the state is swimming in funds. Florida’s 2026 budget maintains $15.7 billion in reserves. Regardless of your politics, the Governor wants to be known as the fiscally conservative Governor. He claims to have cut fat and spent less to achieve more. He wants to bring that philosophy to the 67 counties.
Florida’s property taxes have risen rapidly, increasing by nearly 40% in the last 3 years and more than doubling in the last 10, according to Florida TaxWatch. These taxes totaled $59.2 billion in the most recent fiscal year, the non-profit reported. Yet, many counties, even though they are bringing in more revenue because values have increased, have only kept their ad valorem rate flat or even increased it! Insatiable!
Martin County ranks around 30th in population size among Florida’s counties with approximately 164,000 residents. Divide that into the County’s budget of $763,193,437 and it spends $4,653.62 on every man, woman and child ANNUALLY! This is nearly what Miami/Dade spends. They are the largest county with over 2.7 million residents.
The general fund of Martin County’s budget has increased by 46% over the last 5 years from $146,895,226 to $273,586,989 while our population has increased by less than 2% (except in 2024 when it increased by 2.1%) every year since 1996. It’s true. A lot of the traffic, beach crowd etc. that you experience is due to the behemoths to our north and south. So, even if you allow for a 10% increase, the general fund should have only increased to $161,584,748. But, wait what about inflation? We must account for that. Statistically, inflation accounts for an overall price increase of about 25% since 2020. Ok, let’s add another 25% to our budget figure. The general fund should still be only $201,980,935. It is therefore reasonable to say that our budget is $71,606,054 over what it should be.
Are you getting angry yet? Maybe confused? Go back and read the first 2 parts.
It is evident that WE, the people who reside in Martin County like our luxuries. We have a multimillion-dollar clubhouse on a public golf course, Sailfish Splash Waterpark which has an operating loss of $272,362 and Indian Riverside Park was in the hole $368,918 last year. MARTY rides are free and the County has a list of non-profits that they give your tax dollars to every year. Many of these employ professional fundraisers and the latest addition, Special Olympics is a global organization to which the Commission gave $85,000 of OUR tax dollars. Keep in mind that we also have an independent taxing authority to help fund children’s services called the Children’s Services Council oddly enough.
Much of our tax revenue goes to Public Safety which will not be included in the elimination of property taxation for obvious reasons. But, that doesn’t mean that fire/rescue and sheriff’s services shouldn’t be looked at for cost saving efficiencies from time to time. Perhaps they can’t see the forest for the trees. An evaluation by outside entities qualified in assessing these particular institutions could either reveal some cost savings or validate such large increases in expenditures and responsibilities.
If property taxes are eliminated, it may actually affect Martin County more than other counties. Why? Because our county is so reliant on residential property taxes. Economists will tell you that a county’s economy should be only 50% reliant on residential property taxes and 50% on commercial and industrial. Martin County has an abysmal 4% commercial and industrial combined! The County has been “no growth” vs smart growth for so long that we have grown ourselves into a corner. 45% of our budget depends on residential property taxes. Yet, watch any BOCC meeting dealing with a development issue and you will witness residents marching up to the Board stating that they “came here from [insert crowed city name], because it was too crowded there”. “So please deny such and such development”. The same will cry out for housing that can be afforded by young people or blue collar workers. The irony and hypocrisy is lost on them. And if you are new to Martin County, MCTA welcomes you. Please realize that you are safe from Broward or wherever you hail from because around 50% of our county is owned by some form of government…state, local, national or the South Florida Water Management District. That coupled with our 4-story height limit will not allow us to ever look like Broward. Perhaps a better strategy would be to relax and invite more commercial and industrial. Indiantown, a must visit for historical purposes, welcomes growth and our C & I would be welcome there.
Ending property taxation would go a long way toward making housing more affordable. Insurance reforms or an insurance subsidy should also be considered. As it is, your kids cannot afford to inherit your home! They can’t pay the taxes on it. Ridding our children of property taxation could help create generational wealth. Remember equity is capital. So important to growing an economy or a generation!
Elimination of Property Taxes. Where would we get the money to pay for everything? Is that the question to be asking or it the question “Should we be paying for things we don’t need?” So, knowing Martin County, we want everything we have. Well, we’re used to having these things.
The State could help. Governor DeSantis has promised “budget dust” for rural counties that simply will not be able to pay for services. Martin County is a donor County though. Meaning we actually donate to other counties through the state. The State could modify the unfunded mandates so easily handed down to Counties. The State currently has a 6% sales tax. It could lower that so counties could afford to raise theirs. Not an optimal solution as sales tax is very regressive. MCTA thinks the State should mandate that Counties adopt the “roll-back” rate when ever applicable. That would force the County government to work with the same amount of tax revenue as the previous year regardless of increases in property values. This would force the County to hold expenditure flat with the previous year. Then you wouldn’t be shocked that your taxes went up even though the County had chosen not to increase the millage rate.
Counties can think out of the box. For example, Martin County’s library system has a philanthropic group who raises money for the special programs it offers. They help ensure that the Director of Libraries can hold the line on expenditures. This might be a stretch for General Servies, but not for Parks and Rec. MCTA believes there are plenty of sports and outdoor enthusiasts who would step up enthusiastically! Game ON!
Efficiency studies should be performed on a standardized schedule. They should be performed by outside entities capable of performing industry specific assessments. Any private company would do so if a portion of their budget was bloating.
Choices will have to be made no doubt. And YOU can do your part by staying informed and by considering if expenditures are wants or needs. Next time you use a county facility ask yourself.
Some would argue that if you are paying property taxes, you are simply renting from the government. If your home can be taken from you even though you’ve paid off the mortgage, is it really yours?>>