Florida governor signs bills to curb local property-tax growth and expand local-government transparency

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida’s governor signed two bills June 24 aimed at limiting local property-tax growth and making local budgets more transparent, saying the measures will return money to homeowners squeezed by rising housing costs.

“ We’re going to sign two pieces of legislation which involve protecting taxpayers,” the governor said at a signing ceremony in Manatee County, opening the event by saying the laws were designed to curb what he described as runaway local spending.

The first bill, Senate Bill 4F, changes how local governments calculate the maximum millage rate they can adopt and removes an adjustment tied to per-capita personal income. Under the governor’s description, the measure generally limits year‑over‑year millage increases to the rollback rate and would require a higher voting threshold for jurisdictions that want to exceed that level.

The second measure, HB 1329 — the Local Government Financial Transparency and Accountability Act — requires counties and municipalities to publish budget summaries, revenues, expenditures, department spending, staffing summaries, reserves and a budget‑development calendar online in an accessible format. It also directs localities to publish quarterly employee‑compensation reports and to identify up to 10 percent of potential cuts during budget development as part of a public “budget cutting exercise.”

“ House Bill 1329 will give every single Florida taxpayer the ability to see for themselves exactly where their tax dollars are going,” Blazing Goalie, the state chief financial officer, said at the event. He cited FAFO (Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight) audits and said his office had identified $165 million in excessive spending in one county, $443 million in another, and $87 million in Miami‑Dade reviews, and described roughly $3.8 billion in total excesses flagged so far.

CFO Blazing Goalie framed those audit totals as the principal justification for the transparency rules and for forcing local governments to run a formal exercise to show how they would reduce spending if required.

Bradenton’s mayor, who spoke after the signing, thanked state officials for disaster response support after major storms and said the city had already pursued several transparency practices the new law will require.

The governor and CFO positioned the bills as complementary: SB 4F is intended to make it harder for local governments to increase property‑tax collections without heightened internal thresholds or voter action, while HB 1329 is designed to give taxpayers clearer, easier access to the financial data that shows how local governments are spending those funds.

Both bills were signed at the public event; the governor said the state budget would be finalized in the coming days and reiterated the larger policy argument that curbing local property‑tax growth is part of addressing housing affordability. He also noted a parallel constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would further limit local property‑tax changes.

The event included brief remarks from local officials and a short question-and-answer session in which the governor addressed campaign debates and other policy matters. The mayor highlighted local efforts to adopt businesslike budget practices.

What happens next: the bills were signed ceremonially at the event. The transcript does not specify exact effective dates or implementation timelines for the laws, nor does it list votes or vetoes; those details were not provided at the ceremony and are not specified in the available transcript.