Beth Tate

Mentor, Coach, Entrepreneur, Board Member, Jags Fan, Tennessee native in the Florida Swamps.

[Beth Tate @ElizabethTate]

One of the biggest changes in the 2026 St. Johns County election is something many voters may not realize: the County Commission races are Universal Open Primaries. Take a look at this year's qualified candidates and learn more! https://t.co/6nfpgguqTB

[Beth Tate @ElizabethTate]

My latest coverage of the St. Johns County BOCC meeting is live - May 17 meeting. https://t.co/jW52PlRoUG

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

Bonus question: Where is the sunset clause?

This proposal would fundamentally restructure local government finance in the third-largest state in America.

So where is the mandatory five-year review?

Measure homeowner savings, renter impacts, debt stress, infrastructure quality, public safety, and unintended consequences.

Big reforms need an exit ramp if the theory fails.

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

10. Does this proposal reduce the cost of government or simply change the collection mechanism?

Nothing in the proposal prevents governments from relying more heavily on utility fees, stormwater charges, mobility fees, special assessments, franchise fees, or special districts.

If the total cost to taxpayers remains roughly the same, this is not necessarily smaller government. It is simply a different billing system.

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

9. Are we trying to solve a housing crisis entirely through the tax code?

Florida’s affordability crisis is not just taxes. It is missing starter homes, restrictive zoning, rising insurance, infrastructure costs, and years of making housing harder to build.

You cannot tax-cut your way out of a starter home shortage.

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

8. What happens to Florida’s special districts?

Florida already relies heavily on CDDs, special districts, MSTUs, infrastructure authorities, and assessment-based financing.

If cities and counties lose flexibility, does growth simply shift into more off-book financing structures and special assessments?

Taxpayers do not care which government entity sends the invoice. They care that the invoice still arrives.

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

7. What funds the trust fund when Florida itself is projecting multi-billion-dollar deficits?

Sales taxes? Documentary stamps? Debt? New fees? “Future growth”?

Florida’s own long-range forecasts already project structural deficits beginning in fiscal year 2027-28.

So what is the durable funding source?

A trust fund without recurring revenue is not reform. It is delayed instability with a press release.

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

6. What happens during the first recession?

Property taxes are stable.
Sales taxes and tourism revenues are not.

So what happens when the economy slows, tourism drops, state revenues fall, and demand for local services spikes at the same time?

A system designed only for boom years is not reform.
It is a fair-weather theory.

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

5. Who actually controls your city budget after this?

If Tallahassee defines “core services,” spending limits, reimbursement formulas, allowable millage growth, and allowable revenue… then local government becomes government by permission slip.

Your city council may still hold meetings, but the real budget power moves to the Capitol.

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

4. What exactly counts as a “core service”?

Police and fire are easy answers. After that, the politics begin.

Is drainage a core service in a hurricane state? Stormwater? Road maintenance? Permitting? Parks? Libraries? Transit? Homeless services? Constitutional officers?

The real fight will not be over taxes. It will be over who gets to decide what government is allowed to do.

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

3. Who pays the debt already backed by property taxes?

Florida communities have borrowed billions for roads, drainage, water systems, police stations, fire stations, and hurricane infrastructure.

Bond payments do not disappear because politicians change the math.

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

2. Is this a tax cut… or just a tax costume change?

Homesteaded homeowners may save money upfront.

But governments still need revenue.

So does the bill simply reappear through rent, insurance, utility bills, assessments, fees, and higher costs on businesses and apartments?

Taxes rarely disappear.

They usually come back wearing a different name tag.

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

🧵Ten questions Florida should answer before detonating the property tax system:

1. If this is real tax reform, what replaces it?

Florida built local government around property taxes because Florida has no state income tax.

You can dislike the system, but you cannot remove the load-bearing wall without explaining what keeps the roof from collapsing afterward.

[Beth Tate @ElizabethTate]

Upcoming elections in St. Johns County - choose wisely! https://t.co/CSrW29S7bI

[Beth Tate @ElizabethTate]

I just published What I’m Not Carrying into the Year Ahead https://t.co/uWCgwDt3Z1

[Jeff Tiedrich @itsJeffTiedrich]

it's time to play America's favorite new game, 'what the fuck am I waking up to now'

[Beth Tate @ElizabethTate]

“If George Bernard Shaw had not made it a rigid rule to do first things first, he would probably have failed as a writer and might have remained a bank cashier all his life.”
— Dale Carnegie

via the 5-Bullet Friday newsletter (https://t.co/2uTH5jkMmC) from @tferriss

[Beth Tate @ElizabethTate]

I just published The Quiet Power of the Year’s Final Weeks https://t.co/bgI84vN9bJ

[Beth Tate @ElizabethTate]

“Real life is junior high. The world that you're about to enter is filled with junior high adolescent pettiness, pubescent rivalries, the insecurities of 13-year-olds, and the false bravado of 14-year-olds.”
— Tom Brokaw

[Beth Tate @ElizabethTate]

Always a surprise in store at St. Johns County Board of County Commissioner's Meetings. https://t.co/u3uc9zFMVc