00:00Well, I want to congratulate Bay County for being the first Florida County to voluntarily
00:06request an audit under DOJ of their county finances.
00:11We've seen property tax assessments go up across Florida at the local level.
00:17Taxpayers are pinched.
00:18They're paying more than they ever have.
00:20Even though we have homestead exemption, it hasn't been enough to fully protect taxpayers.
00:24Shouldn't you know how this money is being spent, especially in those counties that have
00:29seen dramatic increases in their state budgets?
00:33Now, we are working with the Florida legislature to get more prescriptive authority to be able
00:38to go in and conduct audits of these local governments so that taxpayers get the full
00:43picture of what's going on.
00:45But until that happens, counties that are willing to step up and ask for these audits
00:51are really leading by example.
00:54You can have all your ducks in a row.
00:56There's always things that you can do better.
00:58So I think Bay County stepping up, doing what they did, really sets a strong example
01:02for other counties throughout the state of Florida.
01:05Now, we are going to be working on providing relief from the property tax situation.
01:11It's very important given how that's pinched so many homeowners, particularly our senior
01:15citizens who have their homes paid off and they bought it 30 years ago for a certain
01:20amount.
01:21Now they're being told it's worth so much more and they have to pony up more and more
01:24money.
01:25It's almost like they have to pay rent to the government just to be able to enjoy their
01:28property and that's wrong and we need to do something about it.
01:32We're also going to continue to work with these cities and counties voluntarily over
01:37the ensuing weeks and months, but we really hope to be able to deliver some serious, serious
01:43audits working with the Florida legislature of what's going on in these local governments.
01:48I thank Bay County for what they did and I know there's going to be other counties that
01:52are going to step up to the plate.
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