Tallahassee commissioners are getting pushback from citizens opposed to a plan to increase property taxes. Officials say the proposed 27 percent increase for the city’s portion of a resident’s tax bill, comes out to an extra $8 a month for the average home owner.
The city says the main reason for the increase is to help pay for additional police officers. But Russell Price with the group Budget Hawks says he doesn’t think that’s the whole story.
“The new property tax could just as well be called “The StarMetro tax” since the new tax will help pay for an increase subsidy totaling almost $8-million to help cover the $10-million operating loss in the star metro budget," Price says
Price says he thinks the city is using the fear of crime to push the tax increase. But commissioners say that’s not true. Commissioner Curtis Richardson says the concerns about crime are real, pointing out the number of police officers the city employs hasn’t kept pace with the growth of the city.
