Pasco County’s Board of County Commissioners voted on Tuesday to opt out of the Live Local Act Property Tax Exemption for the third consecutive year. The Live Local Act, enacted by the Florida Legislature in 2023, aims to increase workforce housing across Florida by allowing the conversion of land zoned for commercial, industrial, or mixed use into multifamily developments.
The requirement is that the project serves people who meet specific income criteria. Local government could also be preempted from blocking the developments and allows a tax exemption for newly constructed or substantially rehabilitated developments that meet criteria for setting aside units for households earning 120% of Area Median Income (AMI). Pasco County has raised several concerns with the “Live Local Act Property Tax Exemption,” which requires the Pasco County Property Appraiser to exempt certain rental properties from ad valorem taxes if such properties meet the criteria of the Live Local Act Property Tax Exemption.
Specifically, Pasco County has raised concerns with the portion of the Live Local Act Property Tax Exemption that provides a 75% property tax exemption to multifamily projects that are used to house natural persons or families whose annual household income is between 80 and 120 percent of the median adjusted gross income (“AMI”) for households within the metropolitan statistical area (“MSA”) or if not within a MSA, within the county in which the person or family resides (the “80 to 120 Tax Exemption”). Pasco County has asserted that the 80 to 120 Tax Exemption (a) is not addressing Pasco County’s greatest need for affordable housing; (b) is not incentivizing rents that are affordable to the majority of Pasco County’s “workforce,” including school teachers and first responders; (c) is in violation of the Florida Constitution; and (d) is inconsistent with the definition of “charitable purpose” in Florida law.
Commissioners cited concerns that the exemption would not provide sufficient affordable housing for low-income residents and could lead to increased costs for local government services. “We are not opposed to affordable housing, but we want to make sure it’s done in a way that benefits our community,” said a Pasco County Commissioner. The county will continue to explore other options for increasing affordable housing.
Originally reported by Hernando Sun
Sources: Hernando Sun
