Stuart is at a crossroads. As a community, we need to face some unpleasant facts and choices. Founded over 100 years ago, our city will not be viable if we continue on the same course. This is not hyperbole but an economic fact.

The city exists because the Florida legislature gave us a charter. We were fortunate enough to incorporate and stay incorporated when “home rule” was advocated by our legislators. They had a Jeffersonian view that local people should be in charge of their own affairs. The less the state intruded the better. About 50 years ago, that view changed in Tallahassee. The legislature has come to believe that they know better than we do about what is good for our community. The regulation of business, taxing authority, property rental policies and almost everything else needs to be approved by them. The state has a one-size-fits-all mentality.  If it’s a good remedy for a local problem in Pensacola, then it must be good for Stuart even though we may not have the problem.

With the advent of “Big Government”, it became more efficient and beneficial to the legislature to erode home rule. Tallahassee takes decision making authority away from localities and concentrates that authority in the capital. The state government became more and more centralized. Less and less money and resources go to the municipalities. The ordinary citizen and Floridian has less influence on the course of his/her life. The ability of local government which he/she can be a part has less and less authority to raise money and enact locally-needed ordinances to solve local problems.

The sales tax is by far the largest Florida source of revenue. According to Stuart’s Economic Development Division, for every dollar collected in the city about 90% goes to and stays in Tallahassee. The county receives roughly the remainder. Of the amount that comes back to the county, the city receives 9%. So for every dollar in sales tax (not sales) collected by a business in Stuart, the city gets less than a penny of revenue. As a point of reference 65% of the sales taxes collected in Martin County are from businesses located within city limits. If Stuart could keep more of that revenue, our economic future would be more secure.

Unfortunately, the state has rejected changing the revenue sharing formula with the county. We do not have and have not been given the authority to levy our own sales tax even with voter approval.  If we could levy our own sales tax, then the bulk of the collections would come from people who do not live in Stuart yet shop at our businesses and use our city services from roads to fire rescue when visiting. Food and medicines which are residents every day necessities are exempt from sales tax.

Except for property taxes, municipalities have very little authority to raise income. With the enactment of “Save Our Homes” and other exemptions, fewer and fewer people are paying “ad valorem” taxes. That means commercial and newer residents are paying a disproportionate share. “Ad valorem” is Latin for according to value. So if you own a house, whether it is worth $1,000,000 or $50,000, you should pay “X” % of the value every year in property taxes. What the state has done is shift the basic tenet of what property taxes are from value of the asset owned to the income of the owner of the asset. In effect property tax has taken on the characteristics of an income tax. This has resulted in less income being collected since the pool of taxpayers is smaller. As an example, someone living in a $1,000,000 home can literally pay no property tax which inadvertently removes a valuable asset from the tax rolls.

The unintended consequences of this, along with the proliferation of non-profits, have been to eliminate 60% of the city’s lots from paying real-estate taxes. As anyone can see, Stuart cannot continue on this path. We, as a city, and even Martin County will not be viable if this trend continues. There are things that can be done, but we must advocate in Tallahassee and Washington.  Both must change the way they govern.