Stet News✂️ Gov. Ron DeSantis is promoting a plan to eliminate property taxes on the first $500,000 of a homesteaded home’s value but his plan, which requires voter approval, raises the state’s $50,000 homestead to $250,000 in 2028 and leaves it to future legislatures to raise the amount to $500,000. It also restricts spending to public safety, education, infrastructure and natural resource projects, issuing local bonds and paying retirement benefits, leaving out money for property appraisers and other constitutional offices. (Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times $$$ or see the proposal here)
- A calculator posted by the state shows homeowners how much they would save with a $250,000 homestead exemption. (Save Our Homes)
🚂 State legislators supported a $60 million payout to the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority to keep Tri-Rail rolling. The money, in the state’s $114.5 billion budget approved Friday, awaits Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature. (Sun-Sentinel $$$)
- The budget included many weird — and wired — expenditures. (Seeking Rents)
⛈️ Taxpayers’ $2 billion investment in building stormwater treatment areas to cleanse runoff before releasing it into the Everglades is on course to fail rules imposed under a court order. The rules require that the average annual phosphorus levels in the water coming out of the STAs by April 2027 must stay at or below 13 parts per billion two out of every five years, and must never go above 19 parts per billion. But, of the five STAs, only one has managed to keep phosphorus levels at below 13 parts per billion, state data shows. The other four have repeatedly hit phosphorus concentrations above 19 parts per billion in recent years. (Florida Trib)
⬆️ Billionaire Jeff Greene has proposed a 25-story tower with 366 apartments in downtown West Palm Beach that would take advantage of the state’s Live Local Act. The tower would go on top of the 1915 city fire station at 120 S. Dixie Highway. The law requires 40% of the units be designated for workforce housing (between 60% and 120% of area median income) and allows the project to move forward without City Commission approval. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
🔌 Juno Beach-based NextEra Energy is known as a political force whose tactics have sometimes put it at odds with regulators, residents, consumer groups and news organizations.
- Some utility experts said NextEra’s political activities are likely to be scrutinized as the company seeks approval for its $66.8 billion purchase of Dominion Energy. (The New York Times gift link)
🎆 To bounce back after two disappointing years of fireworks, Lake Worth Beach is planning a $115,000 hybrid drone and fireworks show in Bryant Park downtown for the Fourth of July. Vice Mayor Mimi May will parachute in with a skydiving team. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)
- West Palm Beach is planning a celebration on the downtown Flagler Drive waterfront starting at 5 pm and ending with a laser show synchronized to an 18-minute fireworks display. (City press release)
🖼️ Henry Flagler’s museum home in Palm Beach, Whitehall, will offer free admission Friday in honor of Founder’s Day, marking the anniversary of the estate’s rescue from demolition by Flagler’s granddaughter, Jean Flagler Matthews, who established the museum in 1959. (Sun-Sentinel $$$)
🎀 A stroll down memory lane to Marilyn Monroe’s ties to Palm Beach on the 100th anniversary of her birth. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
🎙️ “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, explores the upcoming special session on property tax relief, focused on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ homestead exemption boost to $250,000 and the effects it could have on city and county services. (Listen now; watch after 4 pm today)
