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By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: December 14, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Now that one of Florida's top politicians is coming here next week to rally residents around a new tax plan, some might want to do a little homework beforehand.

So where is your study hall? YouTube, of course.

Blaise Ingoglia, chief executive officer of Hartland Homes Inc. and organizer of the controversial Government Gone Wild seminars, has posted on the video-sharing Web site a synopsis of a constitutional amendment that would cap property taxes at 1.35 percent of taxable value.

It's a plan that Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio endorses. Rubio has hit the road at the invitation of grassroots organizations such as the Cut Property Taxes Now group in St. Petersburg and the Hernando County Taxpayers Alliance to help drum up the 611,000 signatures needed to get the amendment on next November's ballot.

The meeting is set for Thursday, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m. at the new VFW Post 10209, 14736 Edward Noll Drive. The post is just north of Anderson Snow Park.

Ingoglia will also be on hand to explain the plan.

Those who want a preview can log onto www.youtube.com/cutpropertytaxesnow.

The video had received more than 1,200 hits since it was posted Tuesday.

In it, Ingoglia urges viewers to tell "everyone you know" to watch the piece and sign the petition to get the amendment on the ballot.

"We entrusted our state Legislature and local governments to offer significant tax relief," Ingoglia says in an introduction to the 10-minute video. "We were promised that taxes would drop like a rock, and they actually dropped like a feather. Our elected leaders ... have failed us. Now it's up to us to change the real estate taxing system. It can be done. It must be done."

The plan, according to Ingoglia and other supporters, would protect the existing Save Our Homes cap and existing exemptions and at the same time provide tax relief to first-time homebuyers, business owners and part-time residents. It also would protect the education budget, according to Ingoglia.

Earlier this year, the Legislature after much wrangling approved a measure to place a proposed constitutional amendment on the Jan. 29 ballot that would increase the state's $25,000 homestead exemption and make its accumulated benefits "portable" for homeowners who move within the state. It would also cap annual appraisal increases for nonhomesteaded properties at 10 percent.

Critics say the measure targets relief to the people who need it least while not doing enough for seasonal residents, businesses and other nonhomesteaded properties.

The Florida Association of Counties has not taken a formal position on the 1.35 percent cap, said association spokeswoman Cragin Mosteller.

Generally, the association opposes such caps, said Mosteller, who hadn't seen Ingoglia's video.

"Fundamentally, we feel the authority should be left with the government closest to the people," she said. "Part of that means having flexibility in their budgets."

Ingoglia, dressed in a black blazer and standing in front of a flat-screen television that projects key figures during his talk, said "the main culprit" is "government's insatiable appetite for money."

Populations in most Florida cities and counties have grown by about 20 percent from 2001 to 2006, he says, while the budgets have jumped 80 to 110 percent.

He doesn't mention Hernando County by name, but says "in the county where I live," the population grew by 21 percent during that time frame. The budget, he asserts, should have grown from $59 to $72 million, but actually hit $121 million.

The "sad thing" is the same has happened in virtually every county throughout the state, Ingoglia said.
Hernando County Commissioner Dave Russell said he is "intrigued" by the plan but hadn't yet learned enough about it to have an opinion.

He agreed, though, that "every county in the state is guilty of the same thing: Spending an increased amount of revenue disproportionate to growth."

"There's no question in my mind," Russell said, "that every county, including Hernando, could be and should be more accountable for these dollars."

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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