State Representative Kevin Chambliss (D-Homestead) joined Florida City Mayor Charlotte Thompson, Vice Mayor Ronda Cobb, and City Manager Dr. James A. Poag as a featured guest for a public Property Tax Townhall hosted yesterday evening at the Florida City Youth Activity Center.

The forum gave residents a direct, transparent look into Florida’s upcoming November property tax amendment. Representative Chambliss offered his insight into the matter, describing the timeline in which this topic came about and detailing where the ongoing conversation surrounding property taxes currently stands.

“We’re talking about moments, life and death. We’re talking about a system that’s already stretched thin, and you want to bring in unproven, untested legislation to stretch it even further without the proposed exclusions,” said Representative Chambliss. “I’m a Democrat. I would love Democrats to talk more about it. There’s a lot of Republicans that are against this as well. Mostly local Republicans. So, the opposition is very bipartisan.”

“Myself along with the commission—that’s one of our priorities: to educate the community,” said Mayor Charlotte. “I think that’s opening Pandora’s box. When you see how the taxes will affect you and your community, you realize they affect you as a family. It’s a real platform, and as you know, Florida City’s constituent count is around 13,000 to 14,000 and growing. But we depend on taxes in the city. As the city manager said, there are a lot of services we use that tax money for, though there are also other buckets of funding coming into the city that will keep us growing. Still, I can’t stress enough how important it is for constituents to educate themselves on what that tax bill would do.”