Council unswayed for seniors tax relief

By BRYAN GILMER

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 28, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- The St. Petersburg City Council showed little enthusiasm Thursday for giving low-income senior citizens an extra property tax homestead exemption.

Every homeowner already gets an exemption from paying taxes on the first $25,000 of the assessed value of a primary residence. In a 1998 state referendum, voters authorized Florida cities and counties to grant an additional homestead exemption of up to $25,000 for some senior citizen households.

But few local governments in Florida have granted the exemption. Many have cited drawbacks like these that St. Petersburg elected officials expressed Thursday:

No one has a precise idea how many households would qualify so it is difficult to estimate how much tax revenue the city government might lose. If 9,486 households qualified and the council granted a $25,000 exemption, the tax break in St. Petersburg would cost some $1.7-million, "pretty significant dollars," in the words of budget director Barry Lupiani.

No one is sure how the government would replace the lost revenue.

If the city raised property taxes overall to pay for the senior tax break, other poor residents would be taxed more heavily to subsidize poor senior citizens.

The state procedure to apply for the exemption requires retirees to submit a copy of their federal income tax return to prove they earn less than $20,000 in taxable income. That could deter many from using the benefit.

Thursday's discussion happened in a workshop, when council members can take no action, but council member Jay Lasita plans next week to propose trying out the tax break by giving an extra $5,000 exemption this year. That would save a homeowner $36.25 per year and likely cost the city less than $350,000.

Lasita said that would give the city an accurate count of how many people would use the exemption, giving the city a way to precisely estimate how much granting the full exemption might cost.

But such the small savings from the $5,000 trial, or even the $72.50 from a $10,000 exemption, might not be enough to prompt people to apply, said council member Bea Griswold.

"Many of them spend that for a single prescription," Griswold said. "I think we're really putting our efforts into the wrong area if we're trying to make life for low-income seniors better."

No member seemed to think the city can afford the full $25,000 exemption, which would save a household $181.25 in annual city property tax.

Also Thursday, the council:

Discussed Lasita's idea to impose a curfew on youths, an idea unpopular with a majority of the members. The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule on the constitutionality of a similar ordinance, so some members favor waiting. Lasita plans to ask for a public hearing on the idea next week.

Accepted Finance Administrator Andy Houston's recommendation to delay approval of $10,000 that would pay part of the salary for the local Front Porch Florida staff person. The program, Gov. Jeb Bush's neighborhood improvement initiative, is under scrutiny after problems with a Front Porch grant program administered by the Department of Juvenile Justice recently came to light.

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