Required local effort's rate barely budges in four years

Rick Scott campaigned on lowering state-imposed school property taxes as part of a seven-year plan, but the effort hasn't had an auspicious start: Those taxes are barely lower now than when he took office.

Scott had a "7-7-7" plan to create 700,000 private jobs over seven years that included reducing reduce the statewide property tax (known as the "required local effort") by $1.4 billion. Then he promised to cut an additional $1.4 billion to be phased in over seven years .

School budgets are comprised of a combination of state and local funding. Each school district must contribute property tax dollars -- called the "required local effort" -- in an amount dictated by the state. The governor and Legislature have a say in that rate.

At first, Scott promised to drop the millage rate (that is, the rate at which taxes are calculated based on property values) from 5.29 to 4.29 in his first year. Instead, the rate went up in 2011, to 5.446. So we rated that a Promise Broken.

For the second part of the promise, which we're reviewing here, Scott said he would cut the rate another mill, from 4.29 to 3.29 over seven years.

Now, almost four years into his term, that hasn't happened, although his office is quick to point out there have been numerous property tax reduction proposals, some of which have been enacted and some of which haven't.

"Gov. Scott has reduced property taxes and will continue to look for ways to do so in the future," spokesman John Tupps told PolitiFact Florida.

But the millage rate for the required local effort has only dropped slightly, set at 5.18 the last two years. With the steady increase in property values, that rate will be bringing in more tax money than before. For 2014-15, keeping the 5.18 rate is projected to generate about $347 million more for schools than the prior year.

While the current rate is lower than what it was in 2010, it's not even close to 3.29, which is what Scott had promised.

If Scott wins re-election, he will still have time to lower the required local effort rate as much as he originally promised, and we'll review our rating. But for now, we rate this a Promise Broken.