Broward Schools & Property Tax Edition: Capitol to Courthouse Headliners–Oct. 2

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After budget cuts are done, what will be next in Capitol?

Wednesday’s special session of the Legislature to find more than a billion dollars in budgets cuts will focus closely on the numbers, as it has to.

 

Property tax appeals increase by 90%

MANATEE –The property taxes on Johann Haeussler’s River Club home dropped about $900 this year, but he’s looking for more relief.

 

State, Seminoles negotiations continue on expanded gambling

The Governor’s Office and attorneys for the Seminole Indians resumed negotiations Monday on expanding the tribe’s gambling operations to include popular — and profitable — Las Vegas-style games.

 

Sooner Or Later, Hard Choices
 
Florida legislators are scheduled to begin a 10-day special session Wednesday in Tallahassee. This time, their main job is to cut more than $1 billion from the year’s budget because of revenue shortfalls. 

 

Budget cuts, taxes and PIP burden Crist

As legislators meet today to slash $1.1 billion from the budget, Gov. Charlie Crist faces one of his toughest weeks in office.

 

Your Chance To Sway Taxes

If you’re dissatisfied with state or local taxes, today’s your opportunity to vent. The Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission will listen to the public from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the 26th floor of the County Center in Tampa.

 

FCAT in perspective

Our Opinion: Scaling Back Emphasis On Test A Smart Move

It is fair to say that, after eight years, the emphasis on passing the FCAT has gotten out of hand in many schools. At a workshop meeting last week, Broward School Board members decided on a different approach.

 

Charging to use roads? Here’s my two cents

How long before we have to pay to walk out of our homes?

It’d be a staggered pay schedule: 50 cents in off-peak hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Five dollars for the prime walking-out-the-door time from 6 to 9 a.m. And a buck-and-a-half the rest of the day.

 

Legislators find workload getting bigger every day

As legislators head into their third special session of the year, with the possibility of a fourth already on the horizon, frustration is setting in for some South Florida lawmakers.

 

Longtime official named new head of state revenue agency

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A longtime official at the Florida Department of Revenue was named Tuesday to head the agency, which is responsible for state tax collections.

 

School Nurses’ Limits Irk Parents
   
TAMPA – Driving to Burns Middle School in the middle of the day Friday to put calamine lotion on his 11-year-old daughter’s elbow rash didn’t make sense to Lee Phelps.

 

Court decision allows school financing

The city worries, however, that a line of credit now requiring a vote will jeopardize a park.

TAMPA – The Florida Supreme Court has revised a ruling that jeopardized financing for construction of new schools in Hillsborough County and high-profile projects slated for downtown Tampa.

 

Wiregrass Development An Insult To Regional Planning, Cooperation

The Wiregrass Ranch development of regional impact in Wesley Chapel is a textbook example why the Legislature needs to revamp Florida’s regional planning laws.

 

$120 Million For Airport: Necessity Or Waste?

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – Only 13 commercial flights leave the Panama City-Bay County International Airport every day.

 

Political insiders got poverty funds

It was the week before Christmas, and William Perry III needed a miracle.  A collection agency threatened to take the one-time lobbyist’s Miami Shores home in a foreclosure suit to recoup an overdue $100,000 business loan. A critical court hearing on Dec. 17, 2002, was set to decide the case.