by Chris Wilson

Since being sworn in last November, District 11 State Representative Debbie Boyd (D-High Springs) has been on a whirlwind ride through her first legislative sessions. Boyd, a former Newberry city commissioner, recently addressed the Newberry-Jonesville Chamber of Commerce.

“Things have been moving fast since November,” Boyd said. “My District office in High Springs still is not decorated.” Boyd is the Democratic ranking member of the Committee on Agribusiness and a member of the Environment and Natural Resources Council.

During her first year as a member of the state legislature, Boyd also served on the Property Tax ad hoc committee, which traveled to several areas of Florida to assess what needed to be done to reform the state’s property taxes. Boyd said that several more urban and southern locations throughout the state originally were pegged for visits by the committee, but she tried to make sure the committee paid visits to Live Oak and other more rural areas to assess how local governments that handle smaller populations would deal with a property tax rollback.

The Florida legislature met for a special session to decide the property tax reform issue in June and passed a statutory rollback of property taxes to the 2006-07 level. In addition, voters will decide this January on a constitutional amendment that would provide a “Super” Homestead Exemption, which exempts up to 75 percent of a home's first $200,000 in just value and an additional 15 percent of the value between $200-$500,000. The minimum exemption for all homeowners eligible for the super exemption is $50,000. However, there will not be a cap on annual tax increases, in case home values skyrocket, under the super exemption option.

Boyd told the Chamber members that she does not favor the Super Exemption, which needs at least 60-percent of the vote to pass. “Some of the property owners in my District will not be paying taxes for services, if they receive a minimum $50,000 exemption,”?says Boyd, who explained that Dixie County has a median home value of $52,000 and Lafayette County’s median home value is $65,000.

“This may be a good thing in other counties, but it just doesn’t fit our District,”?Boyd said. “Everybody who owns property should be paying at least something for services.”

You can learn more about Representative Debbie Boyd at www.myfloridahouse.gov or by calling her District 11 office at (386) 454-0803.

For more information about the Newberry-Jonesville Chamber of Commerce, visit www.newberrychamber.com or call 472-6611.