Wellington has remade its entire budget process this year, and the result will likely be fewer services for its relatively pampered residents.

The village is examining all its expenses and ranking them in importance from “must haves” that the village is required to provide to nice but unnecessary services.

With property tax reform looming in the Legislature, those unnecessary services likely won’t make it on the budget this year. Francine Ramaglia, the village’s finance director, expects Wellington will only be able to fund services ranked as level one or level two under the tax cuts. Services ranked either one or two are considered required, either by law or Wellington’s own comprehensive plan.

“If you cut back to level two, it’s a good level of service,” Ramaglia said. “But it’s not a Wellington level of service.” Read more

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The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday passed key legislation — strongly supported by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® — that would close a loophole which allows large retailers such as Home Depot to own a type of bank called an industrial loan company, or ILC.

The Industrial Bank Holding Company Act of 2007 (H.R. 698) passed by a landslide: 371-16.

“This is a huge victory for the real estate industry and for the stability of our nation’s economy,” says NAR President Pat V. Combs. “NAR has consistently opposed blurring the lines between banking and commerce.”

Citing dire economic risks, NAR has been a voice against any measure that would weaken the national policy against mixing banks and commerce — either by allowing commercial firms to engage in banking, or by permitting large national banks to engage in commercial activities such as real estate brokerage and management. Read more

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The U.S. House Financial Services Committee on Thursday passed legislation allowing the Federal Housing Administration to offer borrowers a safer alternative to risky mortgage products and to help many home owners facing foreclosure.

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, a strong advocate of FHA modernization legislation, says the bill will bring about more stability to local real estate markets and economies.

“FHA can once again be a leader in providing safe loan products and preventing foreclosures by authorizing lenders to assist borrowers who are in default,” says NAR President Pat V. Combs. “This ability will make a substantial difference for many families that may otherwise face foreclosure.”

The legislation — titled the Expanding American Homeownership Act of 2007 — would increase loan limits, eliminate the statutory 3 percent minimum cash down payment, and give FHA flexibility to provide risk-based pricing. The bill will next go before the full House of Representatives for a vote. Read more

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TALLAHASSEE · The Florida Legislature on Tuesday voted to change the state’s 34-year-old rental laws to allow landlords to impose thousands of dollars in new penalties on tenants who break their leases.

Legislators authorized landlords to draw up rental contracts with early termination fees of two months’ rent, plus additional penalties equal to another month to compensate owners for any concessions or discounts they made.

But in order to become law, the bill (HB 1277) must pass Gov. Charlie Crist, who rents a condo in St. Petersburg. After Tuesday’s vote, Crist said he’d be “sympathetic” to renters. Until last fall, he also rented an apartment in Tallahassee, but broke the lease to move into the governor’s mansion in January.

“And it was costly. It was like $900. I feel the people’s pain,” Crist said.

Crist’s spokeswoman, Erin Isaac, later said the governor was speaking generally and had not yet taken a position on the bill.

The early termination fee would apply not only to tenants who leave midway through a rental contract, but those who don’t give 60-day written notice they are not renewing their leases. Read more

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TALLAHASSEE — After hearing from Florida homeowners furious over taxes, Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday unveiled his own property tax-cut plan that aides said would lop 12 percent off average homeowners’ bills in its first year and reduce their taxes by a total of more than $2,900 within five years.

With House-Senate negotiations apparently going nowhere, Crist jumped in to try to break the deadlock. On Tuesday, hundreds of South Florida residents had told the governor at a town hall meeting that they needed tax relief right away.

“It’s important that we continue to let the Legislature do its job,” Crist said Wednesday. But he said legislators, who have been unable to agree over the past eight weeks, had come to him privately to say, “We think you can help us along a little bit.”

The plan presented by Crist to House and Senate conferees did not include the crux of the plan pushed by his fellow Republicans in the House: the abolition of property taxes on Floridians’ year-round residences and an increase in the state sales tax. Read more

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TALLAHASSEE· With homeowners still feeling the pinch of high insurance premiums despite the Legislature’s promises in January to cut rates, Gov. Charlie Crist made a rare, personal appeal to legislators on Monday to not lose sight of the state’s property insurance crisis.

At a Senate Banking and Insurance Committee packed with insurance industry lobbyists, Crist touted a bill that could send more business to Florida’s state-run insurance company.

It was the first time a governor has testified at a legislative hearing in nearly a decade; in 1998, Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles spoke to a committee headed by then-state Sen. Charlie Crist. The issue then was how the state intended to spend a major lawsuit settlement with tobacco companies.

Monday’s meeting came to a brief but heated standoff between Crist and insurance lobbyists. With the committee’s agenda packed and time running out, senators finally voted 8-1 to approve the bill after amending it to allow consumers to pick Citizens Property Insurance Corp. if the best offer they get from a private insurer is at least 15 percent higher than Citizens’ quoted rate for an annual premium. Read more 

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TALLAHASSEE· With homeowners still feeling the pinch of high insurance premiums despite the Legislature’s promises in January to cut rates, Gov. Charlie Crist made a rare, personal appeal to legislators on Monday to not lose sight of the state’s property insurance crisis.

At a Senate Banking and Insurance Committee packed with insurance industry lobbyists, Crist touted a bill that could send more business to Florida’s state-run insurance company.

It was the first time a governor has testified at a legislative hearing in nearly a decade; in 1998, Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles spoke to a committee headed by then-state Sen. Charlie Crist. The issue then was how the state intended to spend a major lawsuit settlement with tobacco companies.

Monday’s meeting came to a brief but heated standoff between Crist and insurance lobbyists. With the committee’s agenda packed and time running out, senators finally voted 8-1 to approve the bill after amending it to allow consumers to pick Citizens Property Insurance Corp. if the best offer they get from a private insurer is at least 15 percent higher than Citizens’ quoted rate for an annual premium. Read more 

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Faced with the prospect of property tax cuts barreling down from the Legislature, Broward County and its cities are bracing for a wallop that could cost them, under the state’s harshest plan, almost $300 million.

Although passage appears unlikely in its current form, a plan backed by House Republicans has local officials predicting doomsday, drawing up plans to slash services and looking to replace lost money through fees that residents pay, as well as from other sources.

Local officials say the message from Tallahassee is clear: The days of giant property tax increases and ballooning budgets are over.

“No one can run away from the fact that there has been a huge increase in the tax base over the last several years, and I accept that some change is coming,” County Commissioner Lois Wexler said. “However, do you mind that parks might only be open on the weekend? Do you mind paying to go to the library? These are all services that most people take for granted.”

Many Broward cities would lose more than a fourth of their property tax dollars — their largest single source of money — under the Republican plan. The Legislature is looking at tax overhaul because of growing public criticism over higher taxes and inequities in the way property is taxed. Read more

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When John Engelhart’s father bought a two-bedroom summer home in 1959, his intentions were to keep the Delray Beach house in the family for generations.

The Engelharts divided their time between Michigan and South Florida. After his parents died in the 1980s, Engelhart, his wife and four children carried on the tradition, spending summers in South Florida.

But Engelhart, a retired businessman and World War II veteran, said he can no longer afford the tax bill on the 1,500-square-foot waterfront house his father purchased for $43,200. It is now valued at $885,607. The 2006 tax bill: $19,647. Read more

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TALLAHASSEE· With homeowners still feeling the pinch of high insurance premiums despite the Legislature’s promises in January to cut rates, Gov. Charlie Crist made a rare, personal appeal to legislators on Monday to not lose sight of the state’s property insurance crisis.

At a Senate Banking and Insurance Committee packed with insurance industry lobbyists, Crist touted a bill that could send more business to Florida’s state-run insurance company.

It was the first time a governor has testified at a legislative hearing in nearly a decade; in 1998, Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles spoke to a committee headed by then-state Sen. Charlie Crist. The issue then was how the state intended to spend a major lawsuit settlement with tobacco companies.

Monday’s meeting came to a brief but heated standoff between Crist and insurance lobbyists. With the committee’s agenda packed and time running out, senators finally voted 8-1 to approve the bill after amending it to allow consumers to pick Citizens Property Insurance Corp. if the best offer they get from a private insurer is at least 15 percent higher than Citizens’ quoted rate for an annual premium. Read more

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