Hammock Community Conservation Corporation

 

                                Minutes of  the January 15, 2007 meeting

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by President Thad Crowe. The pledge of allegiance was given and a moment of silence was observed for our troops.

 

-ANNOUNCEMENTS- Alma Nemrava

-Sign-up sheets for the next A1A clean-up, scheduled for Saturday, January 26, 2008 was circulated.

-A hand-out with the HCCC’s achievements for 2007 and draft goals for 2008  was made available. The achievements and the 2008 goals will be discussed at the February meeting.

-A sign-up sheet for volunteers needed for various committees was available and the importance of participation stressed.

-Saturday, February 9^th from 10-2, Washington Oaks Gardens State Park will have their annual Citrus Harvest Workshop. The event will offer citrus fruit, trees, baked goods and presentations, as well as plants from the monthly Second Saturday Plant Sale.

 

-RETIRING OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS were acknowledged for their service with plaques by Alma Nemrava.

            - Mike Joyce

            -Bill Conner

            - Carol McCleery

            -Lorene Schober

            -Carol Woodard

            -Judy Shearhouse

 

-NOMINATIONS for new officers and board members were accepted and passed for:

            -John Byrd- Vice President

            -Don Hoskins- board member

            -Susan Fairley- Secretary

            -Mike Joyce- board member

            - Carol McCleery-Treasurer

 

-GUEST SPEAKER- REP. WILLIAM PROCTOR OF District 20 addressed the Property Tax Amendment which will appear on the January 29, 2008 ballot.  Rep. Proctor felt that some may feel that passage of the bill would offer advantages to homeowners and businesses, but that others may feel this would not be the case. He also stressed that in many ways this bill, in addition to issues of water management, windstorm insurance and infrastructure financial accountability, were largely south Florida versus North Florida issues. A hand-out was available which addressed the main sections of the bill:

 

            1. Expanding the Homestead exemption up to $50,000. The first $25,000 deduction which already exists would be added to, but not exactly by another $25,000. The second $25,000 applies to the value of the homestead between $50,000 and $75,000 and does not apply to school tax levies. This new exemption may save an average of $240 per year. This also creates a 10% annual assessment cap for ALL non-homesteaded residential and business properties. This does NOT apply to school tax levies. The 3% cap or CPI which ever is less on assessment increases still remains in effect.

 

            2. PORTABILITY is an issue which has been debated for many years. Portability allows the homestead owner with an accumulated Save Our Home (SOH) benefit to transfer 100% of the benefit (up to a $500,000 ) to a new homestead IF the homeowner moves to a home with a greater or equal value. An example would be a home on the tax rolls as a $400,000 house and under this bill being taxed on only $300,000, as a result of the SOH benefit. The owner then selling and moving to a new $400,000 home would only pay property taxes on $300,000. If the homeowner wants to scale back and buy a house of lesser value, they can transfer a SOH benefit that protects the same percentage of value as it did in the former homestead up to a $500,000 benefit. An example would be if the benefit from the former house was 25% of the house value, then they would be able to deduct a 25% benefit off the new, lesser priced house. This benefit can be transferred anywhere in the state.

            -Opponents say that counties and cities will loose tax revenue.

-Others say you cannot have a crystal ball and predict if it will help the housing market or not.

            -The counties can pierce this cap if crucial social services are jeopardized.

- The most likely challenge to this amendment if passed would be under the concept of “right to travel”. As applied to this amendment, this concept would come into play for example if a person moved from Alabama to Florida and wanted to buy the same type of house as a Floridian. The Floridian’s portability benefit would place the Georgian at a disadvantage.

 

3.-CREATES a 10% annual assessment cap for ALL non-homestead properties. The cap will use a base year of 2008, which means the cap will begin shielding properties from taxation in 2009. This limitation does NOT apply to school tax levies.   

 

4-CREATES a new Tangible Personal Exemption for $25,000 for business properties. This provision does NOT apply to school levies.

 

 

-The minutes from the December 4, 2007 minutes were approved. The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Elayne Byrd