Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️

CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️, Baseball Coach @HMHSHornets, Financial Advisor Edward Jones, #NIL, husband, Father of 3 boys #T1D! Past-Pres @FLCities & @FLMayors, Fmr Mayor

[Jacari Lockhart @Jacari_Lockhart]

I am blessed to receive an offer from Auburn University #AGTG @CIngram_85 @CoachKingWill @HHS_Football352

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

Leadership is having to sometimes make unpopular decisions, not just the easy ones. Otherwise we could just poll the state every time there was a need.

We elect people to think about all the unintended and constitutional consequences. Crazy that we’re moving more towards big government deciding which communities are worthy of funding out of the trust fund.

Even crazier is the administration proposing this won’t have to worry about dealing with the consequences.

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

Two years from now, the most repeated sentence in the Florida Capitol will be:

“That’s not what we intended.”

Public policy isn’t judged by what supporters hope will happen. It’s judged by what actually happens after everyone starts reacting to it.

[Thomas Kennedy @tomaskenn]

Beyond defunding public schools, this headline gets to why DeSantis wants to eliminate property taxes in Florida. It would also strip local governments from crucial revenue, making them more dependent and controlled by Florida’s state government.

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

@fineout @GovRonDeSantis Depends on where and what they buy. If they’re smart and carry their SOH tax break, they could be paying extremely low taxes. That has been a real scenario for many in South Florida moving to the north central part of the state.

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

On the first day of Hurricane Season, there are no Canes in the #CWS forecast. 😂

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

🧵Legislators think they’re voting on property taxes.

They’re actually voting on who controls local government.

For 50 years, Florida’s deal was simple: local communities paid their own bills, and local voters held local officials accountable.

Break that system, and the question isn’t what gets cut.

It’s who takes control.

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

@iElijahManley @DanDaley @GrayRohrer Now open for discussion. 😂

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

These are the top cities and counties in Florida based on percentage of homestead property revenue value. They stand to have the biggest cut to their core services from the property tax legislation.

This is just a quick AI search. More work is needed to understand the real impacts based on existing service fees and different funding models. #FlaPol

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

I agree taxpayers deserve relief.

What I don’t agree with is making one of the biggest changes to Florida’s fiscal structure in decades based on the assumption that there’s enough waste somewhere to make it all work, especially when done over the weekend with no analysis.

Maybe there is. Show me the math.

What’s the revenue loss? What’s the replacement? Who funds the trust fund? What happens during the next downturn? What taxes get raised? How long can counties depend on the state for basic funds?

Good policy isn’t built on assumptions. It’s built on numbers.

What I really don’t like is that he doesn’t have to eat his own cooking. He gets to leave it to the next governor to sort it out if this turns out to be a dumpster fire policy.

[Holly Bullard @HollyBullardFL]

“I’d love to get rid of the property taxes. Unfortunately, you’ve got to think about what you’re going to replace it with,” Sen. Rick Scott...
“We already have a very efficient state. So how are you going to fund education and transportation, the environment, things like that?”

[Maverick “ Primetime” Jones 🫶🏾 @JonesMaverick9]

Aftera great camp at @OleMissFB Im blessed to receive an offer from Ole Miss. #AGTG @HHS_Football352 @CIngram_85
@BurgerBarn481 @cj1239hawk @Jt_Turner12 @CoachBowie_HHS @Cam_Towns @CoachB_BROWN @StuntmanAth @2kKyei @_9Time

[London River @LondonRiverSFW]

I’m not against Floridians voting on a tax amendment. But if it’s a vote that affects local budgets, it should be made locally. The only reason you can’t expand your Homestead exemption at the local level is because the Florida constitution disallows selective property taxation.

However, the Florida constitution can be changed with a 60% vote, as we all know. If selective property taxation is important to you, why not introduce a statewide amendment that allows local changes to be made to the property tax so you can put it on your local ballot? That way voters in Pensacola aren’t voting on issues that affect Miami’s budget.

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

@feldonthecat @JeffreyBrandes I love you too. How about a productive conversation with some ideas of how to pay for core services if someone chooses not to pay?

Maybe it continues to accrue in a lien format until they sell it and the difference is taken at that time.

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

I’ve been off for three years now. It is currently at 6.432. Majority of budget is for water, sewer and sanitation.

We haven’t financed much in the past because of utilizing the USDA grants and being in a Rural Economic Development Area we have been able to have low or no matching funds needed.

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

Thank you @GovRonDeSantis for making our point!

If you’re fighting your double in tax claim, and your solution is to relieve homeowners and put the burden on vacation homes, tourists and commercial properties; then addressing at the most a 3% increase is not the answer.

This proves that this is about control and not about taxes. #KeepItLocal #FlaPol

[Ron DeSantis @GovRonDeSantis]

Homestead limits increases in valuations at 3% or to the change in CPl, whichever is lower.

So it stops them from doing that.

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

That’s a great debate to have. That’s the kind of things we should be discussing instead of the state taking control and asking local communities to beg for money for core services.

You could also do $3k plus CPI so you can also justify keeping the save our homes tax when you transfer properties. There are a lot of great ideas on how to change the taxing method to fund core services. I’m for having that discussion and even still being a part of it.

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

So glad you brought that up. Once again, the budget includes more than property taxes. We had a large amount of grants for infrastructure projects. When I came on in 2009 our millage rate was 5.3194, in 2023 when I left it was 5.1741.

When the economy went down we trimmed back and when it came back up we only increased where we needed. For a tax base at that time of about $44 million, generating just over $220k in property taxes. We were known for making copper wire by stretching every penny as far as we could.

I didn’t do it alone. We had a great commission and staff. We also had great partnerships with other local governments and agencies. Our governments should collaborate and not mandate.

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

The state is suggesting to pay for the loss with sales tax. This would be held by the state and each county, school district and 412 municipalities would have to request funding from the state. The state would get to pick the winners and losers. If they don’t like your community, you don’t get funded.

It’s fine if you agree with the governor at that time but what if that changes. Look how long they took to pass a budget and they’re all in the same party. Core local services shouldn’t be political. They should be local funded and local decisions.

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

No one likes to pay taxes. I’m no longer a local official, I left on my own terms.

During my time as president of the @FLCities, I had the honor of visiting many of our cities, towns, and villages across our great state.

One common theme was keeping local decisions local. How we provide services in Hawthorne is different than Miami, Jacksonville, Pensacola, or Sanibel.

I dread the politicization of requesting appropriations every year for core services. We’ve seen the power of the veto pen during the state budget process. Even those in the same party have fallen victim to the retaliation via the veto pen. Now imagine that same process for 412 municipalities, 67 counties, and 67 School Districts.

Regardless of who is Governor now or in the future, we shouldn’t have those in Tallahassee State Government decide which of our communities win and which ones get left behind.

Thank you to my friend, @JeffreyBrandes for speaking up! #KeepItLocal

@FLSenate please vote this legislation down. #FlaPol @myflhouse @flcounties @GovRonDeSantis

[Matt Surrency, CFP®️, SE-AWMA®️ @MATTSURRENCY]

Different taxing sources pay for different services. It’s not about the reduction, it’s about the control of the funds. The save our homes assessed value is capped each year. What would drive people out are special assessments that hit homeowners harder and aren’t capped.

It’s not the amount, it’s the control and the mechanism for doing so. Tallahassee is hours away from Miami-Dade.