Coral Gables, Wake Up: State Situation is More Pressure to Raise Property Taxes
December 8, 2010 Leave a comment
This describes a Florida, Miami-Dade and Coral Gables that will face more property tax declines. Unless governments keep reducing outrageous public salaries and benefits and control other spending and staffing, Coral Gables’ taxpayers will have to pay more next year, without doubt.
This is a strong reason to bring in a new mayor and commissioners.
Jobs growth is anemic, she said, and the housing market is still in the tank. Florida’s gross-domestic product was 45th in the country in 2009, and dead last in 2008. In comparison, Florida’s GDP was fourth-best in the country in 2005.
Personal income has been slowly growing since the second quarter of 2009 in Florida, but the state still ranks only 37th in this category. The state’s October unemployment rate of 11.9 percent was the nation’s fourth-worst, and population growth is nearly flat.
At the same time, existing home sales are slowing, prices are flat and Florida had the second-highest foreclosure rates in the country in October. Cape Coral-Fort Myers had the second-highest number of foreclosures among metro markets in the country in October, Miami-Fort Lauderdale was the seventh-worst, and Orlando-Kissimmee was the 10th-worst.
“It is still very slow, a very gradual recovery,” Baker told the Senate Budget Committee Tuesday morning, cautioning that Florida’s time frame for an economic rebound would lag the national picture “because it’s driving both our tourism and our population growth.”
About Stephen E. McGaughey
Coral Gables Watch 