So today is election day here in FL. We got our sample ballot the other day and there was 1 .. only 1 thing to vote on. Both Sean and I are registered independants, so in FL where they have a closed primary, we dont get to vote for the presidential candidates. So the only thing we could vote for is Amendment 1, Charlie Crist’s property tax relief amendment. I’ve gone back and forth over this thing, it would only save an average home owner $240/yr (we paid $6500 in property taxes last year for our 2 properties). But it also made the ‘save our homes’ protection portable, and doubled the homestead exemption. Basically save our homes caps the amount that your property value can go up per year, and homestead exemption lets you take $25k off the tax appraised value of your primary home. The bad part of all this is that the state budget would have to be slashed by something like 9 million in the next few  years .. and most education groups are campaigning against the amendment for fear that their budgets are likely to get cut, and education will suffer. Anyways .. like I said I’ve been reading and debating this amendment in my head for weeks now, I haven’t come up with a good reason for or against it. I think the 2nd property protection would be beneficial to us, and I know the portability is important to my parents who have lived in their house for 25 years. But I dont know if its worth risking education. Plus I read an article yesterday in Florida Today that pointed out some of the alternative plans that may step up if this amendment fails, and I liked some of those options better. So I’ve pretty much decided to vote no on amendment 1, and hope that something better comes along, soon.

Anybody else make up their minds about 1?