Pasco may not lose millions in taxes from Live Local Act after all

Pasco and other counties will be allowed to opt out of giving huge tax breaks to new apartment developers who they say are not providing the affordable housing lawmakers envisioned when they passed the Live Local Act last year, thanks to a provision tucked into state law near the close of the most recent Florida legislative session.

Sharp property tax reductions were part of a carrot created by state lawmakers to entice developers to build more affordable apartments in response to runaway rents. But Pasco officials said the definition of affordable was written so broadly that it would apply to apartment complexes advertising luxury features and rents that were hardly a bargain.

They calculated that the act would cost the county tens of millions of tax dollars needed to provide services for people renting those apartments while not addressing the need for affordable homes.

On Tuesday, Pasco commissioners will consider a resolution to opt out of giving a 75% property tax break for apartments priced for families making 80% to 120% of the median income for the region. Owners of two complexes had applied for the tax breaks, Tapestry at Cypress Creek and The Gallery at Trinity.

Pasco officials sent the complexes letters demanding that they drop their tax break requests. The county has not received a response from either apartment complex owner, said spokesperson Sarah Andeara this week.

The county estimated that the loss in tax revenue from just those two apartment complexes could have totaled $86 million through the sunset of the law in 2059.

David Goldstein, chief assistant county attorney, wrote to commissioners that the county’s greatest need for affordable housing is not at the 80% to 120% income level. He argued that the break violated the constitution and it didn’t constitute a “charitable purpose” as required by law.

Because of Pasco’s complaints, Goldstein said, the Florida Senate worked into its tax package bill a provision allowing taxing authorities to opt out of the 80% to 120% income level tax exemption beginning in 2025. But that’s only if an annual report from the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies shows there is no need for housing in that price range in the region.

“The latest Shimberg Annual Report (2023) identified a surplus of affordable and available units in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan statistical area, in which Pasco County is located, for those households that meet the income criteria for the 80 to 120 percent tax exemption,” Goldstein wrote.

He recommends that the County Commission approve a resolution to opt out of the tax exemption for the 2025 tax year. Approval will require at least four of the five commissioners. The county can renew the opt-out provision annually if Pasco County continues to have plenty of housing in that price range.

Goldstein goes on to question some of the Shimberg report information and points out that it seems to only recognize a need for moderately priced housing in southeastern Florida primarily in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. Until the tax exemption is narrowed to just those counties, Pasco will continue to be concerned about the Live Local law, Goldstein wrote.

Because of that, the resolution would reserve the right for Pasco County to challenge the Live Local Act in the future.

Goldstein recommends that the county not initiate legal action to challenge the Live Local Act now but does suggest that the county continue to push for other changes to the law. In particular, the county opposes automatically allowing construction of affordable apartments in areas zoned for industry and commerce.

It was those zoning preemptions that first riled Pasco commissioners. For years, the county has made a priority out of creating job-producing zones, areas where commercial and industrial land could be developed so that Pasco could shake its bedroom community reputation and ensure that residents could work where they lived.

He recommends that county commissioners continue to make securing adjustments to Live Local one of their highest priorities.