The Florida Roundup - ACA enrollment amid government shutdown, PolitiFact and weekly news

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

This week on The Florida Roundup, we talk about the impact the federal government shutdown is having on Floridians from those who receive SNAP benefits to what is happening to Head Start funding (00:00). Then, we are joined by Katie Roders Turner with the Family Healthcare Foundation to talk about changes to the ACA as open enrollment is set to begin on Nov. 1 (11:30). Plus, we spoke with PolitiFact’s Samantha Putterman about a recent claim Gov. DeSantis made about the proportion of revenue local governments receive from homesteaded properties (28:58). And later, we talk about how Florida’s Caribbean diaspora are helping with Hurricane Melissa recovery (37:30), hear about the Trump Administration’s airstrikes on on vessels near Venezuela (38:54) and learn about the many different types of “ghosts” that can be found in Florida (44:00).

The Florida Roundup is sponsored by Covering Florida Navigator Program, providing confidential assistance with health insurance enrollment through the health insurance marketplace. Assistance is available at 877-813 or coveringflora.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along. TSA agents missed their their first full paycheck on Tuesday this week. So did air traffic controllers. Many civilian federal government workers received no paycheck this week, no partial pay, nothing deposited into their bank accounts. Today, on this Friday, military service men and women may miss their paychecks. On Saturday, federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

called SNAP runs out. Head Start, the early childhood education program for thousands of kids, also runs out of money. And on Saturday, enrollment begins for Obamacare health insurance plans and extra subsidies that millions used to help pay for those premiums, those run out at the end of this year. The federal government shutdown is now the second longest in history. If it lasts until Thursday of next week, it will be the longest. Florida and Floridians play a distinctive role experiencing the impacts of this shutdown. So today, instead of talking with a member of Congress from Florida about the stalemate, we want to hear from you, from Floridians, about this government shutdown.

What signs of the shutdown do you see as you go about your life? Have you or someone, you know, missed a paycheck or two? What are your needs? What are you doing to help your neighbors who may be in need? Call us now 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. Republicans, we'd love to hear from you. What do you make of the GOP's messaging about the government shutdown?

Do you support President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson's call for a clean short-term spending plan before negotiating enhanced subsidies for Obamacare? And Democrats, we want to hear from you as well. What do you think about Senate leader Chuck Schumer's strategy of holding out for those enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act health insurance premiums? And to both parties or non-party listeners, what would you do to bring together the two sides?

It's the same phone number for everyone. 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. Same email as well, Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Now, we'll be speaking with someone on the front lines of health insurance, helping people sort through Obamacare plans a little bit later on in your programs and we'll be taking your calls and emails so you can get in the queue now 305-995-1800 or radio at the florida roundup dot org so as i said

florida and floridians have a lot at stake as the government shutdown wears on florida is a top 20 state for the proportion of people relying on money from the federal government to help buy food It's about one out of every eight. It's more than one million households. And many of those households have people over the age of 60, like Catherine Batello. You know, am I going to pay my dental bill or am I going to eat? She's 63 years old and lives in Pompano Beach. She relies on Social Security and uses her SNAP benefits to buy food.

She can't find a job and has burned through her savings. I'm not comfortable. I'm struggling. Almost half of the households receive. receiving SNAP benefits in Broward County includes someone like Betelow, someone over the age of 60. More than half of households receiving SNAP benefits in Flagler, Dixie, and Gulf counties are at least 60 years old. And more than 60% of households in Miami-Dade County receiving the food aid have at least someone 60 years old. Daniela Levine Kava is the mayor of Miami-Dade County. I'm losing sleep. We're all losing sleep. This situation is just beyond our worst.

imagination. Now, she and some other local leaders are asking for help from the state of Florida and from Congress. One of those echoing her call for assistance is Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings. I'm asking them to work with our local governments on whatever the response needs to be for the entire state of Florida so that we take care of Florida residents. I'm Douglas Sol in Tallahassee. Three million Floridians receive SNAP benefits. They will lose access on Saturday because of the government shutdown. Senate Democratic leader Lori Berman says the situation is a nightmare. We are going to have so many Floridians who are going hungry.

I can't imagine a better function of government than to assure that our people don't go hungry. Florida House and Senate Democrats signed and sent a letter to Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday, urging him to declare a state of emergency. This would open up funds for food and food distribution. They also want the state to provide universal free meals to Florida school children. And the governor's response on Wednesday? Did those Democrats write a letter to Chuck Schumer asking him to stop filibustering the spending? Come on.

Communities are responding in different ways with food drives, donations, even free meals. Southwest Florida outlets of the chicken salad chick restaurant are offering free meals for children until SNAP benefits are restored. A Facebook post by the restaurant said children under 12 would eat free at the Fort Myers, Estero, and Port Charlotte chicken salad chick locations until the benefits are returned. Second Harvest CEO Monique Ellsworth in North Florida has been gearing up for demand to spike. An early arrival of food intended for Thanksgiving instead will be handed out this weekend. Our goal typically when we do these mega distributions is to bring food for a thousand families.

We've gone up to 1,200. But for this coming Saturday, really we are preparing to serve 1,500 families. Second harvest of Central Florida President Derek Chubb says they're going to need more volunteers and donors to meet the needs in their region. Whether it was the pandemic, whether it was the last government shutdown in 2018,

this community is one of the most supportive that I've ever had an opportunity to work in. So we're going to be here, and our community is going to be here to support us. And Paco Velaz is the CEO of Feeding South Florida. He was out in Dania Beach on Tuesday handing out food to 250 families of federal employees. The huge thing we need right now is monetary donations from our community. And they've always stepped up regardless of whether it was a hurricane, a pandemic, a government shut down, or an economic crisis. Our community has always stepped up.

and we look forward to them doing that as well again. Now, protesters gathered in Lakeland this week outside the office of Congressman Scott Franklin. Stephanie Yoakum is the president of the West Central Florida Labor Council. We need our representatives to work for us, the working people. Congressman Franklin was on Newsmax a week ago and was asked what his message is

to Americans losing benefits because of the shutdown. They should be angry as hell. And rightfully so, you know, we have so many Americans now if you believe all the reporting that are living literally paycheck to paycheck. We have our young military troops that are struggling. Thankfully, the president found a way to get the troops paid for the last payday. But that, you know, the money that they're scrounging up of other accounts that hasn't been expended, that can't continue. Congressman Greg Stuby also appeared on Newsmax recently.

He represents the Sarasota area. The pressure and the pain for Democrats is going to be really felt at the end of this month as SNAP benefits aren't being poured out as military service members aren't being paid, as a lot of of your government workforce, aren't going to be able to get paid. And that now includes thousands of TSA screeners and air traffic controllers at Florida's airports, including those working at three of the busiest airports in the country, Orlando, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale. Together, those three airports alone usually welcome almost 12 million passengers in November as the holiday travel season begins. Any air snafews could trip up what has been a record pace for tourism in Florida this year.

About two out of every five tourists come here by plane. Florida has more young children at risk of losing their Head Start classrooms than any other state. Head Start is a federal program helping low-income families get ready for kindergarten and provide daycare. There are about 10,000 slots at risk here, according to the National Head Start Association. This is Head Start Deputy Director Tommy Sheridan. For children, Head Start isn't just preschool. For many children in our country, this is where they get nutritious meals. It's where they have health screenings.

It's where they access early intervention programs for developmental delays. Gary has been listening in from Wilton Manners. Go ahead, Gary, you're on the radio. Hi, I am a retired National Park Ranger, and I don't know that this is happening or not, but normally my retirement check would come in on the last day of the month, and it did not appear today. I don't know whether anybody's been talking about that, and I know. that I'm a lucky guy because I'm retired and not working day to day and dealing with children who are losing food and health care and all that kind of stuff, but I didn't want to bring

that up. Yeah. My understanding is the federal pension is not subject to congressional allocation money each and every year, that it's money that's been paid in and comes out of a separate fund, but perhaps it depends upon which retirement program you're part of as a federal employee retiree. We'll have to look into that, Gary. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with us.

So we've got the impact there on a retiree from federal government from National Parks, the impact of the education preparedness of several thousand Florida school kids, thousands of federal workers in Florida not getting paid but continuing to work, three million Floridians who no longer receiving government help to buy food as of tomorrow, and then the almost five million Floridians who get their health care through the Affordable Care Act. Folks like Amber, she emailed our program writing, I first signed up in 2021 and was so excited for access as a self-employed person. My premium was about $300 for major

medical. Last year, I paid nearly $600 a month, and next year I plan to drop insurance because we won't be able to afford it. Now, the enhanced subsidies that were added during COVID, they are right at the crux of this disagreement over reopening the federal government. Democrats want to make sure they continue after they're due to expire. At the end of next year, Republicans want to reopen the government first, then debate the extra subsidies. And on Saturday, open enrollment begins for the Affordable Care Act. And current policyholders, like Amber, have started to see what they may have to pay next year without those enhanced subsidies.

So call us with questions you may have about the Affordable Care Act or the government shutdown. How are you feeling it? What impacts are you seeing here as we're a month in now? 305-995-1800. Katie Roders-Turner is with us. She is with the Family Health Care Foundation, the Foundation, the Foundation receives financial support from covering Florida, which is a sponsor of this program. Katie, thanks so much for joining us on the program.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm going to correct myself here. I mentioned subsidies expire at the end of this year, not next year. The subsidies, the enhanced subsidies are through the end of this calendar year. They are due to expire beginning January 1st. So, Katie, what are some of the ACA enrollees here in Florida experiencing as they're starting to see the 2026 premiums? Great question.

So we've had many people calling in to look at some of their initial options for coverage. Plan prices were released just recently. So initially, people are expressing some concerns about premium prices increasing. However, you know, it really depends on the household income and household size as to how much the plan prices may increase. We've been cautiously optimistic with some of the people we've helped so far preliminary review their options. We had one consumer whose plan price only went up a few dollars. And I think for anyone who is seeing an increase in premium prices, we would love to help them look at all of their options for coverage on the health insurance marketplace

because switching plans or switching carriers may alleviate some of those increases in premiums. So details matter here, Katie. Let me make sure we're talking apples and apples or oranges and oranges or grapefruits and grapefruits, as the case may be here in Florida. When we're talking about the premium quote that some of your clients are seen, is that the out-of-pocket cost or that's the premium before any of the tax credits or subsidies? That's a great question, too. So on health care.gov, people can apply for financial assistance and review all of their options for coverage.

If they are eligible for the premium tax credits in 2026, they'll see the difference that they'll need to pay monthly for their premium amount. They'll actually be able to see both, but the larger number is going to be the difference after the tax credits are applied. And so in the example you shared with this with one of your clients who found a plan that was just a few dollars more,

is that the cost to their pocket each and every month beginning in January? Absolutely, yes. So that individual would still receive a tax credit based on their household size, household income. Right. Last year, they were paying approximately $102, per month. And their premium went up to about $105. And did the plan remain the same? The plan coverage

remained the same? And the plan coverage did remain the same as well, correct. So how do you square that, and I know it's just one anecdote, with some of the forecasts where Floridians may be facing 50, 75 percent increases in their out-of-pocket premiums? Something we saw with the offering of the enhanced premium tax credits is that households with income above 400% of the federal poverty level were able to take advantage of the tax credits where they previously had not been able to. And so I think for those higher income families, they will definitely see an increase in their premium costs that begin on January 1st of 2026. So it is for, it is focused on the enhanced premiums that were approved and passed by Congress and signed into law

by President Joe Biden back during the pandemic, which are due to expire. But the regular tax credits that have been in play for Obamacare since 2013 remain in place. And what I think I'm hearing from you is for those Floridians with the income levels that continue to qualify for the regular tax credits, they're out of pocket. premium change for 2026 may be quite muted. Is that accurate? It may be. You know, we are just getting into the start of this. The plan prices were not available to us at the timeline that we were hoping for. So we're just being able to start reviewing these options with people over the last few days. And of course, open enrollment begins officially tomorrow. And as more

information comes out, we would be happy to share it. But we do believe for those who are within the usual allowance of the advanced premium tax credits, not the enhanced tax credits, we're cautiously optimistic that there won't be a significant increase in plan prices. I'm chuckling because of the governmental words there. The enhanced tax credits are the ones that are due to expire, not the advanced tax credits. Is that right? Okay, very good. Yep, you got it.

Okay, terrific. We got an email here from Eliza who wrote us, hello, Florida Roundup. you had asked people with marketplace coverage to email. I have had it since it began, but have never gotten any subsidies. I make too much money to qualify for a subsidy. The increase, even for me, without assistance, is 50%. She writes, I cannot go outside the marketplace. I have pre-existing issues that insurance will not cover.

I work for a small company. Benefits do not include health insurance. My husband is retired and is on Medicare. Liza says she currently pays over $1,000 a month for her coverage. It's going up to almost $1,600 a month. in 2026. And she writes, my increase will put health insurance taking up half of my take home pay each month. So this is a case, right, Katie, of someone who is outside the income qualification to accept any advanced tax credits or enhanced tax credits. And so they're paying what I'll call

kind of the real price of the premium that the insurance companies are charging. Is that an accurate representation? You're spot on. That's absolutely correct. And unfortunately that I think it will be the case for many people who are over that subsidy allowability. And there is a real increase there that we're seeing. And my heart goes out to her because I know that's such a significant amount of her take home pay. As you see all of this, Katie, you've been helping folks in Florida work through the Affordable Care Act since it launched in 2013. How do you identify the price drivers for the increases in premiums, the real number, not the tax credit adjusted number, but the real number? Well, for people who are looking for coverage, as navigators, you know, we always talk to people about what their

priorities are when they're reviewing their coverage options. If they've got preexisting medical issues that they know they need chronic and ongoing care, they may need to choose a plan with a slightly higher premium to have a lower deductible and lower out-of-pocket expenses. If someone's looking truly just for catastrophic coverage, we'll look at those options with them as well. Prescription drugs may go into the determining factor for what's the coverage and out-of-pocket expenses for those. So we truly try to ensure that each person's individualized needs are taken into account with helping them choose their plans. Lots of moving parts there to come up with the plan.

And of course, layered in there are the possibility of the tax credits, both the advanced tax credits, which will remain in 2026, and the enhanced tax credits, which are due to expire as of now due to the government shutdown and the law. Katie Roters, Turner, is with Family Health Care Foundation in the Tampa area. Katie, thanks so much for your expertise. Much appreciate it. Thank you so much. The Florida Roundup is sponsored by Covering Florida Navigator Program,

providing confidential assistance with health insurance enrollment through the health insurance marketplace. Assistance is available at 877-813-913 or coveringflora.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along with us this week. Next week on this program, we should know who will be the next governor of Florida in one year. Yeah, election day

2026 is just a year away. So next week, we will speak with as many of the major party candidates for governor as we can. What questions do you have for the person who wants to be the next governor here in the Sunshine State? Property taxes, property insurance, public education funding, higher education funding, real estate development. Send us those questions now, radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Your questions for the

major party gubernatorial candidates, we're going to put as many of those questions to as many candidates that we can as we're one year away from Election Day 2026. That'll be next week on the program. Email the questions, radio at the Florida Roundup.org. This week, we are talking about the government shutdown in Florida. Debbie has been patient in Bradenton. Debbie, thanks for listening. You're on the radio.

It's your turn. Go ahead. Yes, I just wanted to make a comment. And the comment is that this is not just about losing SNAP benefits. this shutdown, what's going to happen is that the Republicans will not negotiate with the Democrats. They're going to blame the Democrats for the loss of the SNAP benefits. And in two months, the Republicans are going to come along and take away health care benefits for millions of people. So the Democrats have realized that the Republicans are not trustworthy enough to be

sensible in their negotiations on these very important topics. So these people are not just losing their SNAP benefits, and that's temporary probably. When they reopen the government, hopefully the SNAP program will come back. But what will not come back is the health care issue if the Democrats concede to the Republicans at this point. It sounds like you support the Democrats here holding firm that they want more than a guarantee. They want the renegotiated enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidy as part as a condition of the reopening of the government. That's true, and I do believe that because I don't believe that this party has demonstrated that the working people are their priority. Gotcha. Debbie, we got some other voices to hear from, but great to hear from you from Bradenton. Thanks for checking in. John in Osceola County. Go ahead, John. It's your turn on the radio.

Hi, Tom. I just wanted to say that, one, I thought it was unfair earlier a commenter said that it was the government's job to make sure that everyone was fed, and I'm not sure that that's the responsibility of the government. and two, I also wanted to comment on one of the other comments who mentioned that half of her take-home pay would be spent on her increased coverage costs. But the fact is, in terms of the shutdown, if we negotiate right now in terms of the Republicans negotiating with the Democrats, and I'm not a Republican, I'm actually in America first party member, but if they did negotiate, with the Democrats, then the Democrats would be holding the entire healthcare system hostage again after the ACA. Because right now, the reason that she's paying half of her take-home cost is because the insurance industry, the health industry, are prioritized in the ACA more than the American family.

And that's the problem that we need to come back. We need to rewrite our model of health care delivery, not continue what they've done. done. I think if we can go back to the COVID subsidies, we would like to do all of that over. And that is one of the reasons that the elections came out the way they did. Yeah, John, I appreciate that. Only a couple of things I know about time. It moves in one direction and at one speed. So we can't go back. We've got to move forward here. And right now, at least, we're at loggerheads, a stalemate here, as it is regarding the federal government. Gene has been patient in Palm Beach. Go ahead, Gene. It's your turn on the radio.

Yes, I'd like to comment. on the entire situation as well. First of all, I am not an American. I mean, I am in American. I am not a Democrat or a Republican. I think that in the last 10 months from what we've seen from this entire administration, there is nobody in Washington who is working for the American citizen. It's time and time again, pick your subject. whether it's, you know, what they're doing in major cities with ice or these kinds of things. This country is meant for Americans to flourish, and they are just cutting us off as much as they can. Well, we're watching Pennsylvania Avenue get decorated in gold leaf and new ballrooms being put in.

We're actually talking about children starving. to the point that we're talking 40 million children nationwide could be more hungry, let's put it that way. Gene, let me ask you, you mentioned you didn't think anybody in Washington was working for the American people. How does that shape how you're thinking about this election year, which is, you know, the countdown is on. We're about 370 days away from Election Day 2026. Yeah, and it would be welcome to see a candidate that's actually going. into, first of all, follow through on a promise. I did remember hearing prices down from day one. I mostly have these conversations online in the grocery store with other people.

It doesn't matter who you voted for. We're all suffering and we're all feeling it. And things need to change. I just wanted, it would be so nice to think about having an elected official that actually does grocery shop. When do you think any of those men or women have been in a grocery store last. Yeah. You know, it's, well, some of those

local officials, probably you may see them in that local supermarket, but yeah, to your broader point, right? When I go grocery shopping, I don't see

a line for Democrats, a line for Republicans, a line for NPAs. Everybody just lines up and tries to get through that line as fast as possible. But kudos to you,

Gene, for engaging with your fellow residents there in Palm Beach County while you're checking out. Albert has been patient in Tampa. Go ahead, Albert.

We wanted to hear from you. Go ahead. I'm a 72-year-old lifelong Republican raised here in Florida, and I'm disappointed in my Republican Party not negotiating with the Democrats. That's what they're paid to do. That's the job. You know, Speaker Johnson needs to get his act together, and we need to talk. That's the only reason we have two parties or actually maybe a third party there occasionally, but the government's job is to come to the consensus in to move things forward. And the reason we find ourselves in the shutdown is because before we got to this point, Republicans have refused to negotiate or try to come to a consensus on this health care subject, which affects a lot of people.

So I'm taking the blame right directly on my own party. Albert. So some of the Republican House members from your area in Tampa and all Florida will point rather to Senate Democrats to say, you know, the House has done its job. It passed its so-called clean, continuing resolution spending plan to keep the government open or to reopen the government, and it has failed in the Senate now, I think, at least 13 times as Senate Democrats have not provided enough votes to break the Senate filibuster. What would you say to the House Republicans that have said they've done their job and they'll come back to office once the Senate acts? I would say they've not done their job. They've passed a resolution, but they didn't, they did not, okay? They did not do their job over the last 10, 12, 14, 16 weeks coming up to this deadline that they knew was going to be coming.

They refused to open up the door to be able to negotiate in good faith for any extended period of time about this. And so, yes, they may have passed that. They may be voting on a bill. Let's just give a clean CR. Okay. And that's nice. if we would have taken care of business before we got to that position. And the Republicans are not giving the Democrats any guarantee

that they're really going to schedule, you know, serious negotiation after. It's a real lack of trust across both aisles and across Pennsylvania Avenue and up and down the mall in Washington. Albert, great to hear your voice there from Tampa. We do appreciate you joining the conversation. You can share your thoughts on this government. shot down. We'd love to hear from you. The inbox is open. It's radio at the Florida roundup.org. So property bills will begin showing up in mailboxes across the state very,

very soon. If not already, November is when property taxes are sent out in the first deadline to pay approaches. But the future of property taxes for Florida homeowners will be the major focus of the upcoming legislative session for state lawmakers. Governor And DeSantis has insisted on reducing or eliminating some of the property taxes for home and condo owners. And he wants just one proposal to make it to next year's ballot for voters to decide the fate of property taxes. You do one proposal, right? One proposal.

And we've been working very hard on this for months. There's a lot of different things and you've got to structure it right and everything like that. But I can tell you, we need to do one and we need to do something bolder than what those proposals were. Now, that was the governor on Wednesday. What he's referring to there is the more than a half dozen property tax proposals made currently in the Florida House. The Speaker of the House, Daniel Perez, told us on this program last week that not all those proposals will make it to the ballot in a year and that the governor has not returned his calls to talk about property taxes. He says he wants to abolish property taxes. Well, no one really knows what that means.

We've been asking for a proposal from him for months since he first brought this up. And we agree. He's right on saying that we should look into a limit. terminating property taxes are to bear minimum reducing them, but he hasn't given us a plan on what he means by that. So the governor has been clear, though, on the types of properties that he wants to target. I've said Florida resident, you have a home, you're a homesteaded, you should own it, you shouldn't be taxed, that shouldn't be an ATM for the local government. Like, that's the vision that we want to see. So the debate does not include all property taxes in Florida. Taxes for school districts, taxes used for law enforcement, probably going to be excluded, and not all properties would be included, only homes and condos that are primary residences for their owners, which brings us to this week's Politifact.

Every other week here on the roundup, we connect with our colleagues at Politifact to separate fact from fiction. Samantha Putterman is our navigator with this, a reporter in Florida here for Politifax. Sam, welcome back to the program. Hi, thanks for having me. So while the governor has not released any specific language that he wants to see in a proposed constitutional amendment changing property taxes, he's pretty clear there he wants one for voters to decide. And he has drawn a distinction between property taxes paid by home and condo owners and property taxes paid by other types of properties. This is what he said just this week. Most of the property tax revenue that local government collects by far is non-homesteaded residential taxes and commercial taxes. Excuse me, Governor, yes. So he says most property tax revenue there. But Sam, he was even more specific in mid-October during his speech in West Palm Beach.

The vast, vast majority of property tax revenue is not from homestead Floridian properties. It's second homes, investment properties, commercial properties, Airbnb, all those other things. That's about 70, 68 to 70 percent of property tax revenue statewide. All right. So there we've got the claim, Sam, that you can fact check. how much property tax revenue comes from owner-occupied homes and how much from other properties in Florida. Right. So, yeah, we rated this one mostly true for Governor DeSantis. His estimate is close. Studies show that around 64% of Florida's property tax revenue is collected from those primary residences, known as homesteads. These include places like, and then the other ones include places like second homes, vacation, rentals, businesses, as he said. So the idea, though,

of changing how Florida collects property taxes, right, makes counties and is nervous because no one, you know, no one has fully spelled out where that lost revenue comes from. So while, you know, DeSantis is correct that the majority of property tax revenue does not come from these primary residences, there's still a whole lot of money that would be lost in the case. So 64% of property tax revenue coming from vacation homes, what the governor says, Airbnb, rental units, commercial properties, 36% then from owner-occupied homes, the so-called homesteaded. So how much money does that 36% represent? Put dollars and cents to it, Sam. Yeah, yeah. So estimates from the Florida Policy Institute show that ending proper

taxes for primary residences alone could cost the state about $18.5 billion. And that breaks down to around $7.8 billion for counties, $3 billion for cities, and around $7.7 billion for school districts. And it is important to remember that Florida does already have a generous homestead exemption for these primary residences. And that reduces the homessteads. And that reduces the homes taxable value by as much as $50,000. I think there's more than a dozen different types of homestead that homeowners could qualify for, veterans, and there's lots of different ways in there. So, okay, so $18.5 billion is what comes in from owner-occupied homes, so the homesteaded

homes for property taxes, and you split that up, $7.8 billion for counties, $3 billion for cities, $7.7 billion for school. So I'm going to say about $11 billion to local governments that aren't school districts. roughly, all right? So my math on this, Sam, is so 58 cents of every dollar in property taxes paid by owner-occupied property owners goes toward local governments, not school districts. So that's the money that the governor wants to target. Is that right? It seems to be so. Like, like Perez had said, we don't really know exactly what the proposal will be, but it does seem like he is honing in, at least lately, on reducing, maybe expanding the exemption or eliminating it completely, right, on

these primary residences. But again, you know, we haven't heard a lot of talk about where this money would then come in from. Right. Because that is still, you know, quite a bit of money for all these local governments to try to figure out how to get these services paid for. Indeed it is. Those are the questions that our listeners always asked. Lorraine from Orlando emailed us. I'm against doing away with property taxes, even on homesteaded property. I still use local roads, the library, parks, fire, and police services. Why shouldn't I pay to support those things? Lorraine asks. So Sam, some of these proposals exclude cutting property taxes for things like police or exclude school property taxes. What are some of the cost shift questions and considerations

that kind of need to be answered here still? Yeah. So it really depends, A, you know, what will be excluded. There was also some proposals that had to do with different ages of owners, you know, that they wouldn't have to pay, you know, school districts if they're over a certain age. So it really depends on how that breaks down. But it also really depends. in the locality because sometimes people tend to think that, you know, it's kind of a blanket situation for every county, for every city. But a lot of, you know, some counties and cities get a lot more for property taxes for their services than another county or city. And they're going to feel a squeeze much harder, even depending on, you know, what might be exempted or not.

And that will, you know, could affect libraries, could affect emergency services, you know, any kind of service that you can pretty much think of that your local government might provide for you. Could be privatized, could be reduced. And then has to be paid for it. maybe somewhere else could be sales tax or increased corporate tax. Yeah, so I looked at my property tax bill that's coming due, 16 different taxes are itemized on that bill, three related to the school districts, so we'll put those aside. There's five that are state-related, like water management districts, for instance. I assume those are not on the board here.

Those haven't been talked about. There's one for my local village, four are county-related, and then there's three what are called non-advillorum taxes, stormwater garbage recycling. That's not based upon value, and we're going to have to dig into this in the weeks ahead as all of these details have to be sorted through for whatever constitutional amendment proposal may wind up on the ballot. And a lot of, yeah, and a lot of owners might not know, you know, which taxes are being targeted here. And a lot of experts told us, you know, people look at their tax bill and they see all taxes. Well, yeah, you see I immediately look at the bottom line, right? I hadn't looked at the itemization for a while.

Sam Putterman is our Florida colleague with Politifact. Sam, always a pleasure. Thanks so much. Great. Thanks for having me. If you have a claim, you'd like Sam to put our fact checkers on, email it to us. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to The Florida Rundup from your Florida Public Radio Station. The Florida Roundup is sponsored by covering Florida Navigator Program, providing confidential assistance with health insurance enrollment through the health insurance marketplace.

Assistance is available at 877-813-9-1915 or covering. Florida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Some stories now about our neighbors to the south in the Caribbean and South America. Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica, then Cuba, and part of the Bahamas this week. It was a monster Category 5 storm, 185 mile per hour wins when it hit Jamaica. Andrew Ashmead owns four Jerk Hut restaurants in Tampa. He was just visiting family on the island last week.

in a restaurant was the last thing on my mind. I was admiring the beauty of the island and I was just thinking how much I miss being there. His restaurants are among the groups and places collecting goods to send to those in need after the storm. Maybe this might open a door to, you know, where some good comes out of all of this bad, you know? Hurricane Melissa killed dozens of people across the Caribbean with widespread power outages and damage to buildings and roads. The storm's path brought its high winds and powerful storm surges and torrential rains to parts of Cuba, Haiti and Turks and Kekos. Dennis Zulu is the United Nations resident coordinator in Jamaica. There's been tremendous unprecedented devastation of infrastructure, of property, roads, network connectivity, energy has been

lost across its path. But what is very unique is that the impact of Melisa, though very dire in this area has actually spread across the country. Now, to the West, the Trump administration has launched at least eight strikes on boats in the Caribbean near Venezuela, boats that it claims were carrying drugs. There have been three more strikes in the eastern Pacific. Dozens of people have been killed. The attacks are a new front in how President Trump is using the American military to fight international drug trafficking and has prompted Venezuela's dictatorship to warn its citizens.

Tim Padger reports from our partner station, WLRN in Miami. This civil defense video from Venezuela's socialist dictatorship calls for maximum citizen discipline. It went out on social media recently to the residents of the eastern coastal state of Sukre. That's where the suspected Venezuelan drug trafficking boats that the U.S. military has destroyed in the Caribbean this year likely embarked. President Trump now says he's set to order anti-narcotic. military strikes inside Venezuela. So since sucre could be a prime target, it's on Alerta maximum. Maximum alert. But on WhatsApp, that's not how people in Sukre told me their feeling. Their mood is more like maximum conflicted. They do fear Sukre will be a magnet

for U.S. military attacks. That's because aside from the drug trafficking activity there, the state has several Venezuelan military facilities, and the Trump administration has designated Venezuela's armed forces themselves a narco-terrorist cartel. Claudia is a schoolteacher in Sukre's coastal city of Karupano. Claudia is not her real name, which she asks us not to use for fear of government retaliation. She concedes many impoverished Sukre fishermen have agreed or been coerced to transport drugs. But she also points out honest fishermen, many she knows personally, are afraid right now to go out to sea for fear a U.S. military drone

might mistake them for drugboats. We expect civilian casualties if the U.S. attacks, Claudia told me, because there were some innocent civilians on the drugboats that have been hit. Still, she said, many in Sucre are quite happy to see Venezuela's brutal dictatorship in a maximum alert panic. Karupino is one of the cities where dictator President Nicolas Maduro, himself under indictment in the U.S. for drug trafficking, has activated the civil defense training.

It's more what you'd call political indoctrination, Claudius said. They're using a possible U.S. attack as an excuse to crack down on anti-government dissent. Last year, Maduro stole Venezuela's presidential election, which he clearly lost to the opposition in a landslide. He jailed thousands who protested his massive fraud. Almost 30 were killed. So the possibility of ousting his regime and fixing their collapsed economy is why folks in Sucre and across Venezuela are as welcoming of a U.S. incursion as they are worried.

There's a long gunboat diplomacy, perception among Latin Americans that the United States, in the end, is going to come in and save the day. Florida International University International Relations Professor Frank Mora was the U.S. ambassador to the organization of American states under President Biden. Morris has President Trump likely believes blitzing drug cartels inside Venezuela will let him declare victory there, even if Maduro's regime is left in. intact. But where would that leave the democracy movement led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado? If the United States decides, you know, they're going to bomb a few places

here and there, but ultimately not going to achieve regime change, that's going to deflate the opposition. Then the regime can say, we've overcome. That's it. Patricia is another Venezuelan who lives on the country's eastern coast in Anzawadigis state. She also asked this not to use her real name. Patricia said she's glad to see the U.S. take action in Venezuela, but she agrees a limited anti-narcotic strike is a risk. We fear it won't actually weaken who we really want it to weaken, Patricia said. If the Maduro dictatorship comes out strengthened by this, people will be more terrified

each time they hear a knock on their door at night. But in South Florida's large Venezuelan diaspora, there's more optimism. Many expats believe Trump's anti-drug actions will fracture and rattle the risk. regime enough to make dislodging it from power more possible. The possibilities are very high that it's going to work. Francisco Poleo is a former Venezuelan journalist who owns a wine business in Boldega in Coral Gables. He points to media reports that Maduro recently offered the U.S. big concessions like

access to Venezuela's oil reserves in exchange for Trump backing off. We should expect that pressure on Maduro to facilitate a transition towards freedom. They never thought the United States would actually react. way they are doing right now, and they are a skirt. Or as President Trump put it, I think Venezuela is feeling heat. I'm Tim Padgett in Miami. And I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening

to the Florida Rundup from your Florida Public Radio Station. Well, finally, on the roundup, it is Halloween, so how about some ghost stories? After all, Florida is full of ghosts. There's a University of Florida biology professor who studies ghost sharks. The males have what the university

calls a toothy appendage growing out of its forehead. Its more appropriate name is... Sanaculum, the club-shaped appendage that sits basically in the center of the forehead within a cup, and it's articulated, so it opens up and closes out. This is Gareth Frazier.

The fish has a rod on its forehead with teeth. They have these kind of shark-like appearance, but they're not sharks, actually. They're relatives of sharks, so they're kind of a cousin to the sharks, actually. But they're probably separated by about 400 million years. Okay, okay, okay. Okay, the proper name is chimera.

But ghost shark is so much scarier. And truth be told, these ghost sharks are not found in Florida waters. But ghost traps are. It's somewhere over here. We're looking for crab traps in the bay here, which look like black squares, like little boxes. That's Ashley Castellanos Rodriguez. She's a student at Florida International University. And in July, she was out on Biscayne Bay with others searching for ghosts, ghost traps.

The lobster crabs are going to see more offshore, and they look like wooden crates. And ghost traps are old crab or old lobster traps that have been forgotten or left behind. Laura Reynolds is an advisor for the environmental advocacy nonprofit friends of Biscayne Bay, which helped organize the ghost trap roundup this summer. You know, once it's not fishing anymore and it's not serving a purpose and it's not being curious. for by the fishermen, it becomes a place where fish and crabs actually get trapped and it still continues to fish. So that's why we call it the ghost trap. There also can be ghost nets lurking in our waters, old fishing nets that have been abandoned or lost. Back on land, there are ghost forests

here in Florida, groves of trees vanishing into soggy graveyards, thanks to sea level rise. Environment reporter Jenny Stoladovich with our partner station WLRN visited one about five years ago. We're standing on the west side of Big Pine, about two and a half miles from the overseas highway, with Mike Ross, another FIU ecologist. He's been studying the Pineland and the Florida Keys for nearly three decades. Around us is a windy salt marsh. It's mostly mud and buttonwood trees growing low to the ground.

Every so often, these stumps appear, like tombstones, marking the pine forest that once stood here. Sea rise is amplifying the threat from hurricanes, and the pine rock rock and the Keys are vanishing, becoming ghost forest, like other areas battling sea rise from Louisiana to Virginia. And when the forest go, so will the wildlife that live in them. Back on the peninsula, but tucked away in the corkscrew swamp sanctuary in the western Everglades is another Florida ghost, the famed ghost orchid. Senior environmental reporter Tom Bayless with our partner station WGCU describes it this way. It's a perennial herb, looms, blast white

petals every summer. It appears to float in the air, ghost-like, although it's attached to its host tree by tendrils that blend in. It's not the only ghost orchid in the swamp, but it is special. Renee Wilson is with Florida Audubon. This orchid is the largest ghost orchid ever discovered. In fact, one year, it had as many as 40 blossoms on it over the course of the season. It may be the largest and leave viewers awestruck, frozen in their tracks. But, the ghost orchid is only about the size of a dinner plate when in bloom. The ghost orchids are protected on public lands. And

this being Florida, we have another kind of ghost. Ghost candidates. Two kinds of ghost candidates. Ghost candidate. Maybe a ghost candidate. Ghost candidates. Yeah, ghost candidates. So what is a ghost candidate? Well, here's Ben Wilcox. He's the research director for Integrity, Florida. The idea of a ghost candidate is a candidate who puts themselves on the ballot, and they have no intention of campaigning. They have no intention of actually

serving if they were elected to the office. So it's a problem that is a disservice to Florida voters. Well, that should frighten us all. That is our program. For today, it is produced by WLR Public Media in Miami and WSF and Tampa by Bridger O'Brien and Denise Royal with help this week from Helen Acevedo. WLRin's vice president of radio is Peter Merritt. The program's technical director is M.J. Smith. Engineer help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto J. and Jackson Hart. Our theme music is provided by Miami Jazz guitarist, Aaron Leibos, at Aaron Leibos.com. Thanks for calling, listening, emailing, and above all, supporting public radio in your slice of Florida.

I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend. The Florida Roundup is sponsored by covering Florida Navigator program. Providing confidential assistance with health insurance enrollment through the health insurance marketplace. Assistance is available at 877-813 or covering Florida.org.