By Bill Cotterell, Florida Capital Bureau
October 22, 2010
Florida's recovery from the recession will be
severely hurt and construction of new homes, shops
and businesses would become more of an insider
political proposition — not less — if the Hometown
Democracy constitutional amendment passes, a
University of West Florida economist said Thursday.
But a spokesman for the Amendment 4 campaign
said a study by Florida TaxWatch and the Haas
Center for Business Research and Economic
Development was tainted by big businesses, real
estate developers and retail interests. Wayne Garcia
of Yes on 4 said giving residents a vote changes to
local land-use comprehensive plans would help
stabilize the volatile Florida construction-dependent
jobs climate.
"Passage of Amendment 4 would result in significant
losses in jobs, economic activity, personal income
and tax revenues throughout the state of Florida,"
said Robert Weissert, vice president for research
and general counsel of Florida TaxWatch. "Passage
of Amendment 4 would be devastating to the state of
Florida."
Weissert and Rick Harper, director of the Haas
Center at UWF, released the study at a news
conference.
Harper said "the great Irony of Amendment 4" is that,
instead of opening the process, it would "foster a
less-open, less-transparent and less-predictable
planning environment, by subordinating the
professional judgment of planners — subject to
approval by elected representatives — to a referenda
system of ballot-box initiatives."
He and Weissert said having a public vote on every
big development would run up litigation costs and
costs of holding elections. They argued businesses
would simply take their money to friendlier states.
Hometown Democracy proponents say their
amendment would give residents a brake on
runaway development and let them overrule local
governing boards that base land-use decisions on
a desire for more property tax revenue — or more
campaign contributions from developers.
But Harper said Amendment 4 "will inevitably lead to
an increasingly polarized and political planning
process."
The TaxWatch-Haas Center economic analysis said
260,000 jobs could be wiped out by Amendment 4,
with loss of an estimated $16.7 billion in personal
income over six years. State and local governments
could lose $2.2 billion in tax revenues — about
$3.4 million per county in lost property taxes, the
study projected.
"We should instead focus on making improvements
to existing growth-management plans," said
Weissert.
Polls have shown Amendment 4 falling far short of
the 60 percent required for adoption Nov. 2.
Garcia, the spokesman for the proponents'
campaign, said TaxWatch "is far from an
independent broker" on Amendment 4. He said the
organization has always been financially dependent
on businesses that are now bankrolling the
opposition effort.
"This is just another attempt by part of the No on 4
growth machine to make up 'facts' to scare voters,"
Garcia said of the study. "What has cost Florida
untold jobs and higher taxes is the current system
of growth ... Amendment 4 would end the boom-
and-bust cycle of Florida real estate speculation and
provide a more stable economic platform, resulting
in more investment in our state, not less."
