Tallahassee, Florida- September 10, 2012
While some Leon County residents say a rate increase is necessary to make up for declining house values, most who participated in the latest TallahasseeVoices survey say property taxes increased dramatically five to ten years ago--and it's time for them to decrease.
In July, the Leon County Commission proposed increasing the property tax rate from $7.85 to $8.31 per one thousand dollars of taxable property value. This is a 5.9 percent increase.
The TallahasseeVoices survey says only 27 percent of Leon County residents are in favor of that increase.
62 percent are against it.
The survey says 28 percent of people are okay with increasing local taxes around five percent and keeping all of the services and benefits provided by local governments and 52 percent would rather keep local taxes stable and decrease some of the services and benefits.
The survey also looks at how residents feel about local politicians spending tax dollars.
Leon County Homeowner Edward Mathis says, "If they just keep it where it is, it'll be fine because it's a little git too high for me now. If they just drop it down some more, that'll be great. But, raising it, I oppose that."
Ozell Williams, a Leon County homeowner, says, "I don't go along with it because I'm at my limit now. I have a home and I just had to refinance and everything. So, with taxes going up, that's almost putting me back, putting the price of my house back up again. I can't afford it. I'm really against it 100 percent."
To see the complete survey, click on the slide show.
