Tom Tyron | Sarasota Herald-Tribune
After reading Zac Anderson’s Herald-Tribune article about how Florida’s Legislature and governor shortchanged affordable housing initiatives — again — in 2018, I thought: Time to change the names of the state’s various trust funds to mistrust funds.
The Legislature shifted $182 million in funds (out of $314 million available) that are supposed to be dedicated to affordable housing to the general fund in the 2018-19 state budget. This year’s raid raises the total “swept” out of the housing funds since 2001 to $2.2 billion.
That money should have been devoted to the local-government and state housing trust funds created under the Sadowski Act. (A rational exception could have been made during the Great Recession.)
The housing funds are supposed to be used to finance or subsidize the construction, renovation or purchase of homes and apartments in a price range geared toward everyday workers, as well as elderly, disabled and homeless Floridians.
The revenue comes from a slice of the documentary stamp tax on real-estate transactions; the rate was increased slightly in 1992. The increase was endorsed by builders and real-estate interests, who recognized that the money would be plowed back into their industries and the economy.
Unfortunately, their trust has been abused.
A Republican senator and a Democratic representative filed bills this year to prevent housing trust funds from being shifted to the general fund. Both bills died in committee.
During a recent event, several legislators representing our region said they support using all of the housing trust funds as intended. Yet when they had to vote during the 2018 session on the massive budget bill that included sweeps, they voted in favor — citing little practical choice.
That is one reason the Legislature should adopt a proposal by Florida TaxWatch to require passage of a separate bill for any raid on a trust fund.
This year, the Legislature swept $404 million from trust funds, according to TaxWatch; last year, the total was $448 million. These are not huge numbers in light of a state budget exceeding $80 billion, but there is principle at stake.
The Inland Protection Trust Fund, for instance, pays to clean up underground sites polluted by petroleum. There are at least three funds for fighting financial and insurance fraud. Yet even though these accounts fund important work, they have been raided.
If certain accounts aren’t necessary to do vital jobs, then close them and lower the fees that fund them. Otherwise, stop the raids and be honest with Floridians about the state’s insufficient general revenue.
Tom Tryon is opinion editor.
Article last accessed on May 31, 2018 here. A print-ready PDF is available here.