Local officials challenge Florida property tax accusations
After months of financial abuse allegations lobbed by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration against local governments, city leaders pushed back Tuesday in a Florida House meeting focused on cutting property taxes.
“Waste is in the eye of the beholder,” said Casey Cook, the Florida League of Cities’ chief of legislative affairs. “Nobody likes paying taxes, but safe isn’t free. Clean isn’t free.”
Cook, joined by other county and city leaders, spoke Tuesday morning during the Florida House’s fourth meeting of the Select Committee on Property Taxes, hosted to explore the best way to slash the “most hated tax” and bring relief to Floridians struggling under the weight of rising costs.
DeSantis and top leaders have targeted local governments over property tax levels, decrying city and county officials for alleged rampant “waste, fraud and abuse” at a slew of statewide press conferences.
But on Tuesday, local government officials took the public stage for the first time to claim that that’s not true.
“One person’s community amenity could be the next person’s biggest waste ever,” Cook said, noting the subjectivity of how property tax allocations can benefit some citizens and over-tax others. “And one person’s exemption is another person’s tax increase.”
Property taxes vary city to city and county to county, contributing roughly 47% of public school funding statewide. They also help pay for public safety operations, which include law enforcement, fire stations, and emergency management. In 2024, counties spent a total of $60.17 billion, $16.13 billion of which went to public safety, said Davin Suggs, deputy executive director of the Florida Association of Counties.
Rep. Vicki Lopez, a Miami Republican who co-chairs the Florida House’s property tax committee, said that the local governments’ presentations made her more clearly understand the case-by-case basis that different cities and counties operate on when it comes to property tax, making a one-size-fits-all approach to the dilemma far less likely, she told reporters after the four-hour meeting.
“I do believe that today we’ve learned maybe there are some counties and cities that are doing it right, and maybe there are counties and cities that need a little help in reducing their expenses,” Lopez said, adding that she looks forward to the Florida DOGE team’s findings from the seven counties and five municipalities they’ve investigated.
Despite the difficulty, Lopez and co-Chair Toby Overdorf, a Palm City Republican, “absolutely” believe that at least one constitutional amendment on property taxes will be on the ballot in 2026.
What is DOGE doing for property taxes?
DeSantis has repeatedly called for property tax cuts to ease homeowners’ financial burdens. He pressured the Legislature during the 2025 Session for property tax relief, but lawmakers struggled to determine how to balance slashing property taxes while still funding key public institutions.
To address the situation, the House created a 37-member property tax committee while DeSantis directed his new DOGE team to investigate local governments for alleged “waste, fraud, and abuse” — some of which he claims is driving up property tax rates.
On Tuesday, Leda Kelly, Director of the Office of Policy and Budget in the Executive Office of the Governor, presented an overview of the Florida DOGE team. She faced minimal questioning from lawmakers, but insisted the team remains “committed” to locating efficiency and stomping out inefficiency across local governments.
Democrat Rep. Anna Eskamani, representing Orlando, isn’t so sure.
“I do find it ironic that the search for efficiency can be so inefficient,” she said. Eskamani referenced DOGE hiring a team leader, Eric Soskin, while “co-opting” other department employees into the task force.
Cook touched on a similar vein when he was asked to detail the salaries of local government workers in a question hinting at some City Managers who rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cook pointed out that nearly 2,000 state employees make more than DeSantis’s $141,000 yearly salary. Beyond that, DeSantis’ cost of living is nearly entirely footed by the taxpayer, he said.
“The Governor has a security detail, his family has a security detail, the Governor has a driver, probably part of the security detail, and when the Governor travels, he travels on a private plane,” Cook said, adding that DeSantis lives in Tallahassee’s Governor’s Mansion.
“If you were to break that down with a total cost to the taxpayer, I would wager that the typical city manager makes less than 10-20 times the total compensation of the Governor.”
One of those state employees who makes more than the Governor is Soskin. His salary is more than $197,000.
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Livia Caputo reporting. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].
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