The Florida Roundup - Property tax reforms, football finances, “River of Grass” film & other news

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke with the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Daniel Perez (R-Miami-Dade) about the effort to reduce or eliminate property taxes (00:00). Then, we were joined by The Athletic’s Matt Baker to talk about the multi-million dollar “parachute packages” for the football coaches at Florida’s top universities (28:08) following the firing of UF’s coach. And later, we looked at how the federal government shutdown is being felt in Florida (37:16) and spoke with the filmmakers behind a new documentary that explores the Everglades and centers the legacy of environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas (39:40).

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 87813-913 or coveringflora.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. It's great that you're with us this hour. We're going to be talking about the future of property taxes here in Florida, because it may be up to voters in about one year. one or even several constitutional amendments that reduce or even eliminate most local property taxes could be on the ballot next year. It's a high priority for Ron DeSantis as he enters his final year as governor. What we've said is not that we would eliminate it on every property, but as your personal homesteaded property, you know, we want you to be able to own that free and clear of the government.

This is the governor last week in Palm Beach County. He contends most property taxes are paid by owner. of vacation homes or commercial properties, not people who live in their primary residences. According to state data, the property tax bill for the entire state of Florida was just over $60 billion last year. That includes all types of property taxes for local governments, schools, and special projects. And it includes taxes levied on all kinds of properties, homes, commercial buildings, and agricultural land. So people say, well, where are you going to get the money? Well, how come nobody asks, why can't government spend less money?

Now, coming up, we'll hear from Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, who's still waiting for specifics from the governor about what he wants. Perez, in fact, says he's just waiting for his phone calls to be returned by the governor. In the meantime, House Republicans have seven ideas for reducing or eliminating some property taxes. Our colleague Douglas Sol from partner station WUSF has details. None of the proposals would touch the school property tax, which makes up a chunk of Flerdian's overall bill. One would eliminate the non-school homestead property tax. tax, and another would phase it out over a decade. An additional plan would exempt senior Floridians from having to pay the non-school homestead property tax, and another would create a new tax exemption

for those who have property insurance. The property tax funds local governments, which have expressed worries about their ability to provide critical services if cuts are made. The proposals prevent affected local governments from reducing police funding. Floridians would ultimately have to approve the changes on the 26 election ballot. I'm Douglas Sol. Tallahassee. Now, we want to hear from you coming up in several minutes, but call now, get in the queue, 305-995-1800. 305-9-5-1800. Daniel Perez is a Republican representing parts of Miami-Dade County. He's also the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. Mr. Speaker, thank you for your time. Is cutting or eliminating most non-school local property taxes a priority for you next

session. Absolutely. It's a priority for me. I think more important than just myself, it's a, it's a priority for the House of Representatives. It's a, it's a priority for Floridians. We've heard them loud and clear, and we agree with them that you should not keep paying taxes on property that you own in the state of Florida. And as close to that goals we can get, we're going to try to do so. And in the House, we've proposed multiple proposals that eventually will go on the ballot and we'll see where that goes. Yeah, House Republican members have introduced at least seven now possible. constitutional amendments that could change property taxes, ranging from increasing exemptions to phasing out non-school local property taxes to eliminating them altogether by 2027. Why so many

proposals right now ahead of session? The answer actually is that is very simple. We don't believe that putting seven proposals on the ballot is the right move. However, the House of Representatives is the only body that has come up with any options. And so what we're doing is we're trying to get the conversation started. We hear the people and we want to come through for them. But there hasn't been a proposal sent to us by the Senate. There hasn't been a conversation started by the Senate. And the same goes for the governor's office. I think the governor has obviously the biggest microphone given his position. And 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 eliminating property taxes or to bear minimum reducing them. But he hasn't given us a plan on what he means. by that. And so we took a staff at it. We put seven proposals out there and let's see where that goes. The membership's going to look at each one individually and take a vote on them. The governor was out with a social media message this week regarding the number of proposals calling a quote, a political game, not a serious attempt to get it done for the people. You've responded to it right there. How many constitutional amendments is your goal to have on the ballot regarding property taxes at the end of this legislative session early in 2026? Yeah, it could be just one.

There's no games being played here, but we have to put something on the ballot. In order to put something on the ballot, we have to vote on the joint resolution. In order to do so, we have to have a conversation. And these are proposals that are going to allow for that conversation to happen. We're not going to be able to amend the Constitution and eliminate property taxes through Twitter. And as of right now, the only thing that I've seen from the governor is an opinion on Twitter. That's a bit of consistent opinion. And by the way, an opinion I agree on, but not an opinion that has actual fact on how we can change this for the people of Florida.

In the House of Representatives, we've done that. We've taken a stab at it. And by the way, maybe someone has a better idea than what we've proposed. And if that's the case, awesome. Let me know. Look, I've called the governor. He doesn't answer, but I've called to see if he has a better option than I do. I'm not, you know, the only person that can have a decent idea.

Maybe my ideas are terrible and he has a better one. Well, great. Well, give me that. And let's have at least a normal conversation about it. But I don't govern through Twitter. I don't know if anyone's, you know, I don't tweet often. I try and actually do my job as the speaker and put forward proposals. Mr. Speaker, are you saying there are phone calls?

to Governor DeSantis from you that have not been returned regarding property taxes? That is accurate. You mentioned how people have been asking for property tax relief. There was a poll from the University of North Florida in July. It's a regular poll that asks Floridians what are some of the most important issues. 20% named property insurance as their top concern. Property taxes was only named by 12%. So why do you think property taxes is that?

the top concern instead of property insurance? I think they go hand in hand. I think property taxes are somewhat of a new conversation. We always look to eliminate taxes in general. And property taxes has always been included in that conversation. If you remember, our Secretary Rubio tried to do so two decades ago and wasn't able to accomplish it. Marco Rubio, when he held your position that you have today. Absolutely. And so we have been having this discussion, but not to this point. And look, I do credit the governor for putting it at the front of the line. I think he's right in doing so. And we agree with that. It's why we've taken these proposals.

But property insurance is something that has been at the front of the line for so many years in a row that I, and look, we've made great improvements, by the way, in the property insurance market. But we don't have a magic wand that can just solve for it across the board. And I think the property tax issue is something that is, quote, unquote, new. And I think it's so many people want to have a greater discussion on right now because we haven't been addressing it the way we should the last couple years. And by the way, it is important to note that although many people don't believe we've been addressing property taxes. House of Representatives. We passed a bill last year to get the tourism development tax that is collected by local governments

every single year from tourists and give that as a buffer for property taxes to be lowered by local governments. We offered that and it passed out of the House. No one talked about it because I'm not able to get on Sean Hannity and tell people the good work that we're doing. But if I could, I would tell people we've been at this. Unfortunately, we've been a lone soldier.

Well, here you are speaking about it on Florida Public Radio about that. That did not go anywhere in the Senate. And there was large concerns from the hospitality industry about taking this source of revenue away from the hospitality industry to market Florida to continue the boom that we've seen in tourism here. On the property tax versus property insurance, we've gotten comments from Floridians as well. Jim Serena in Lutz said, it's the insurance costs that are much more, not just the cost, but also the insecurity.

I think the insurance is a bigger issue than the taxes. Lisa Ferguson and Orlando told us this. I believe in funding our public services, and so don't touch my property taxes. They're not the issue. I want you to go to the source of the issue, which are these insurance companies that have holding companies that have incredible profits. Speaker, are you satisfied with the reforms of property insurance that have been approved by you and your colleagues in recent years? We have succeeded in moving the needle, and we have been successful. However, at the same time, I can also admit that there is more success that's needed.

There's more work that has to be done. But the reforms that we've passed, I mean, they've been working. You know, we have litigation, of course, has come down. We have more companies moving into our state than they have before. We had the lowest average homeowners rate increase in the nation. There's an argument to say it's because we were maybe higher than most, but we are also a peninsula. So we are going to have greater dangers than most. I think us being a little bit higher than Nebraska is always to be expected.

We are surrounded by water here for the most part. But, you know, we are seeing the insurers filing for rate decreases for the most part or at a bare minimum asking for no increase at all. And lastly, citizens, which is a state, you know, state-ran insurance carrier is getting rid of policies, which is what they should be doing. We're not in the insurance business. That's supposed to be an insurance of last resort. And I think it's working. I think the policies that we've done have been working. One of your members of your party, of your caucus, a Republican member of the House, Jim Mooney from Monroe County, told us this.

We don't get a lot of complaints about property taxes. Get a lot of complaints about insurance, which I think honestly should be the bigger debate. Now, some have pointed to Representative Moody for saying the quiet part out loud. Why do you think the governor is focused on property tax reforms here in what will be his final year in office as opposed to continuing with property insurance reforms? Yeah, I don't want to speak on his behalf. I would never do that. But, you know, I wouldn't say that he's saying we don't need to work on property insurance. I think we can always work on property insurance.

But he does tout a lot of the successes that the legislature has passed. And eventually he has signed for the change in property insurance, which should be commended. I think we have done a good job, but we can always do a better job. But, you know, again, that's been a topic of conversation since he's been in office. It's not as sexy as property taxes. You know, when he can tweet that he's going to abolish all property. taxes. No one knows how or when he says that, I'm sure he's, you know, getting a greater feedback than when he discusses property insurance only because we've been talking about

property insurance for so long. But I don't know. That's a question for him to answer. Fair enough, Mr. Speaker. Removing property taxes, eliminating them, reducing them, of course, has a significant impact on local governments because the state government levies zero property taxes. It's all about local governments here. You and your colleagues have talked about non-school property taxes. education is different in this debate here. What's the knock-on effect? What's the concern about how to replace that revenue for local governments that go fire, parks, maybe sewer systems, those types of services? I think a lot of that depends on what's eventually put on the ballot. And if it passes or not, I think we, you know, we exempt the school property taxes because if you

don't exempt them, we're talking about a little over $20 billion, I would say probably half our counties would shut down. I'm talking about, forget about services. I'm just saying they would cease to exist. The school districts themselves. School district, no, even counties. Even county government. Oh, I do believe there are some counties that would cease to exist. And, you know, that's a conversation that has to be had.

That's what we're trying to do. You know, what is the dollar amount? How is that backfilled? By the way, you know, we have put in our bills that if this were to pass, none of this can defund the police. You know, law enforcement has to protect our people. There's a job that has to be done by them. Where would that money come from? Where would that revenue come from, if not for property taxes?

That's a question that's going to have to be answered once the amendment is passed and then implemented. Remember, we're not implementing this prior to the amendment passing. So we would have to, look, I... Doesn't that be answered beforehand, right? Like, when you're buying a house, the bank isn't saying, we'll figure out how you pay the first month's mortgage after you move in. Absolutely. And I totally agree with you. It all depends on what's passed.

And that's the tough part on how to answer the question. You look at some of our proposals, you're talking about 100,000 homestead exemption increase. That's a completely different conversation to have than abolishing property taxes completely or doing so with the exemption of school property taxes. And that's the part that we need to have a discussion on. Well, I guess those are real existential questions, it sounds like. Am I right in hearing you earlier that if property taxes, non-school property taxes were eliminated, that you think up to 20 counties would simply cease to exist in the state of Florida?

Look, I don't know about the exact number of counties. I don't, you know, I don't want to be, I don't want to give an exact number. But some counties would essentially be absorbed by their neighbors. I would have to assume some of these very, very small counties rely on their property taxes. And look, I'm going to play devil's advocate here. Should some of these counties not exist? You know, do we have too many counties? Should some of them maybe be combined?

I don't know. I have no idea. I'm not saying yes or no, but those are the questions that I, that I'm asking. We got a note from Catherine Ashby in Orlando. A lot of the property tax reforms with homeowners insurance, that doesn't trickle down to renters like me, but increases on things like property insurance are costs that typically get passed to us, and that's a big concern. What is the message to renters if property taxes are reduced or lowered in Florida?

And look, I agree with that comment from that listener. You know, last year, the governor proposed giving. a thousand dollar check taxpayer dollars a thousand dollar check if you own the homestead property i thought that was absolutely ridiculous not everyone's a homeowner and he was just going to give thousand dollars checks like you know like like the way the biden used to do it back in the day during covid just write checks to people and it was just going to get you own the home a homestead property got a thousand bucks so what about the renters what about the people that are starting their family that haven't been able to to to own a home yet you know and and and that's why the house never agreed to that

that potential solution but i think i think once you're able to eliminate or at least reduce property taxes for those people that rent, you know, I think the market will become more competitive because prices will begin to start to go down a little. The debate's already been narrowed to non-school local property taxes. Homesteaded property taxes only, in other words, only for residential properties where homeowners live. Is that accurate, Mr. Speaker? Yeah, we're talking about homesteaded property here. I mean, I believe that it should, you know, that's probably the best route to go. You don't, you know, you don't want someone's third vacation home to be to be subsidized in any way.

Or the second one for that matter, I think. Is that right? I don't have a second way. But no commercial property tax relief is on the table, is there? That's not in the proposals as of now. Or multifamily apartment building property taxes. That wouldn't be considered. It depends of something that we're functioning around something, at least in the proposals

that we presented, we're functioning around homestead property. But look, you know, we don't want taxes for commercial properties either. I mean, let's not make it seem like all of a sudden, you know, we're four, property taxes if it's a commercial building. It's just, you know, right now we don't have an unlimited amount of money. Decisions have to be made. This is where we're starting. This is where the conversation has started. But if there are other ideas that people want to propose, you know, we're more than happy to entertain them. Local property taxes support billions and billions of dollars of borrowing by local governments for all kinds of things. How would reducing or eliminating

any part of local non-school property taxes affect those bonds that have already been sold and backed by the recurring revenues of property taxes and the ability of local governments to borrow money in an entirely new environment where property taxes are reduced or eliminated. I think a lot of that is going to depend on how these local governments are able to balance their budgets and where they're able to cut in order to still have the funds necessary to make those bonds stand on their own two feet. I don't, you know, we do believe that there is wasteful spending at the local level. And I think the Senate to House and the governor, I think I'll agree on that. And, you know, how much of that wasteful spending is something that will

will be able to, I guess, get used for its proper purpose and then eventually, hopefully, be able to backfill internally within their own local government, some of what has now been cut from property tax, thus being able to be used for the bond. We don't know the answer to that, but we do believe that there is wasteful spending at the local government level and that some of the doging that the state is looking into can assist with that. Is that the true effort here is go after the revenue of local governments in order to address the spending of local governments?

Look, I don't think that that's not the reason that we started this conversation. I think we started this conversation because we don't believe in property taxes. And so we're trying to solve for that. And while solving for that, we are realizing that there is, there is wasteful spending at the local level. I mean, let's be honest, there's wasteful spending at every level. I think, you know, doge is a good thing. In my house and your house, I suspect everybody's house, right? Doge is not a bad thing.

It's a good thing. You know, and I think everyone can doge. I think it's important. Now, you know, how we can not just cut, but where we can use that money really. is the conversation. Back to borrowing, though, by the local governments, because that is an enormous market. It's an important market. The capital markets in the United States are deep and wide. What are the questions you have as you continue to navigate this debate regarding the impact of reducing or eliminating local non-school property taxes on the credit ratings of these local

governments that rely on property taxes to pay for sewer systems or fire departments? It's all about what we end up cutting, you know, to what extent are we cutting them? I mean, one of our proposals is for homesteaded property of those that are 65 years of age and older. And I think that's significantly different than what we have with a $100,000 increase on a homestead exemption. So it's tough to, it's not trying to dodge the question at all. It's just it's a tough question to answer, not knowing where we're going. Mr. Speaker, thanks so much for your time. We really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. It's, it's been a pleasure, and I'm sure we'll stay in touch. Your phone calls, emails are next. Radio at the Florida roundup.

radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Or let's get in the queue on the phone, 305-995-1800. 305-9-1-800. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Rondup from your Florida Public Radio station. More to come. 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 877-813-915 or covering Florida.org. You got it on the Florida Round up here on Florida Public Radio. I'm Tom Hudson.

Great to have you along. Next week on this program, Affording the Affordable Care Act. Enrollment begins November 1 for Obamacare health insurance plans that take effect next year. And you already know probably that Florida has more people getting their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act than any other state. about 5 million people here in Florida, one out of every five Floridians. And a lot of folks rely on those enhanced subsidies to afford coverage. Those enhanced subsidies are at the center of the debate over the federal government shutdown.

So as open enrollment season for health care.gov approaches, do you get your health insurance through Obamacare? How much is it? How much do you actually pay? And what's the coverage like? Email us those stories. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. at the Florida Roundup.org. That'll be next week.

Now, today, the future of property taxes here in Florida. Voters will likely decide the fate of at least one constitutional amendment that would change non-school property taxes for home and condominium owners. Kimberly Pareda in South Miami says it's property insurance costs, not property taxes, that are costing her neighbors. I have neighbors that don't have it at all because they don't have a mortgage. and they say they're self-insuring, but I had one neighbor tell me she's dipping into that self-insurance money to cover increased costs on groceries and electricity and things like

that. So if God forbid a storm does hit, she's not going to have the savings she's set out to have to cover being self-insured for property insurance. Miami Lakes Councilman J.C. Fernandez emailed us this note, writing almost everybody agrees property owners are being squeezed from property taxes and insurance. That said, I would caution our Florida legislators to make changes without considering the repercussion of sweeping changes. Keep in mind that the local governments count on money generated from property taxes to provide essential services. To House Speaker Daniel Perez, please be responsible with whatever measures you decide should be

on the ballot. There are cities that could become defunct and unable to provide services that residents require and count on. The councilman writes us. All right, let's listen to Heather in Jacksonville on line four. You have been patient. Thank you, Heather. You're on the radio. Hey there. I appreciate you guys are having this conversation. I think the issue here kind of speaks to the last comment I heard reiterated there, which is regardless of whether or not you are a liberal, a Democrat, a Republican, we all rely on local government. I am a long-time local government employee, longtime, multi-decade. And we all drive on the roads. We all need clean water when we turn on our faucets, regardless of if we have kids in the school system,

we don't want buildings collapsing on our heads. We need local government to administer building codes. These are things that folks think are unnoticed. And I guess what I want to say is that a small percentage of local government's revenue is actually property tax for one, very small amount of it. If you take that small amount away, everything else is going to have to increase. In the comment that there's an efficiency in local government, sure, I think you said it's local, there's efficiency in our homes. Of course there is, but we're running on a paper-thin budget. So I think it's, I think all those things have got to be recognized that even those folks that say locally in my community, politicians, that advocate for the

reduction or dissolution of property tax, even those folks will contact my office, sometimes multiple times a day to obtain the services I provide, right? Mm-hmm. So let's just be fair about it. So let's just be fair and honest about it. It's not just about schools, not just about police, it's not just about fire. It's about whether or not these building, you know, code enforcement, building officials. Yeah, we hear you.

Yeah. Yeah, Heather. Yeah, I want to hear from some others in Florida. Heather, thank you for your comments from Jacksonville. I'll point out that the proposals that have been floated make exceptions for school district property taxes. Those would not be impacted by any of the proposals that are currently on the table. And local governments would not be able to make cuts to law enforcement should any of the reductions or eliminations of property taxes go through. Julie Jackson in Vero Beach sent us this voice memo.

I am not a supporter, frankly, of eliminating property taxes, mostly because the government needs money to run. Our local city, Vero Beach, needs money to operate. How are they going to make that up? And what are they going to do in order to make it up? They're not offering an alternative to that. Brian from Jacksonville emailed us the funding provided by property taxes is vital. However, the cost of living for local Floridians is becoming too much of a burden. Brian says he would decrease property taxes for the primary residence of Floridians,

but increase it dramatically for second homes and non-residents. Brian may be on to something there. The proposals really are directed at homestead properties, primary residential properties. That's what the Republicans, the Republican proposals are looking at, not for those properties that are not homesteaded. Mike has been patient in Alachua County. Great to hear from me, Mike. Your turn on the radio.

Hi. Thank you. I've lived here in Alachua County and paid my property taxes for 25 years. I'm on a fixed budget retired now, and I'm very happy to continue paying for all the services that I get for it, even though my kids are grown and out of school and all of that. I think most of these things have been covered by others like Heather. I'll just stop by saying that this whole idea seems to me one more way for the governor to, rest away local control, as they do every chance they get. Mike, we appreciate your thoughts there from Alachua County. Let's go up the road and over to the coast, back to Jacksonville. Kevin has been patient on line one. Kevin, your turn on the radio. Thank you. Yeah, as a homeowner, I don't mind paying property taxes because that goes to our parks.

And, you know, you thought about schools not being exempt, but it goes to our schools and our libraries and our parks. And I don't mind paying that. I agree. I think that, you know, we should look at taxing people that have second. third, fourth properties, you know, even corporations that own single family homes, but own multiple, those should be taxed at a much higher rate. If they can't afford it, they'll sell, and that makes way for Floridians that can now afford

to buy a home because there's more properties available. Yeah, Kevin, thanks for your thoughts. Peggy in North Central Florida emailed us. My suggestion would be to eliminate property taxes on undeveloped land and increase it for new houses. Peggy writes, let's save as much as real Florida as possible. Jim is listening in Orlando on line seven. Go ahead, Jim. It's your turn to hear from us. Well, thank you very much. Pardon me. I'm doing great. It's our turn to hear from you rather. Go ahead, sir. Okay. Fantastic. Well, I used to live here back in the 90s, and I moved away and I moved here again in 2022 to retire. Well, after, and I want

to just start off by saying, I don't mind paying my property taxes at all. But, But I moved here after the COVID price increases, so my property was much more expensive than a lot of the other homes around here. Well, it turns out that the neighbors on either side of me who bought their homes back around 2000 and are homesteaded. I'm homesteaded as well. They're paying a third of the property tax. I am. And I would like to see the legislature maybe just try to even things out a little bit that way. Yeah.

Yeah. Ask your neighbors about portability of property tax. as well in Florida. If they had a primary residence prior to the home that they're in now, they can port over some of that taxable value as well, which helps keep a cap on property taxes. But Jim, we're glad you're back in Florida. Thanks for listening and sharing your thoughts there from Orlando. You can share your thoughts as well. Radio at the Florida roundup.org. You can bet we'll continue this conversation over the next many, many months. Now, your Florida's Megan Bowman spoke to Floridians about their thoughts on property insurance and property taxes. A lot of you reached out

through the online form with questions and concerns. And you can do that as well. Just search the term, Your Florida. In quotations, your Florida online, and you can learn how to add your voice. Well, the University of Florida is paying three men for their football head coaching duties. Only one of them will be on the sidelines next weekend

when the Gators meet Georgia in their annual game in Jacksonville. The decision to make a change in the head coaching position here at Florida, and felt like that was the best interest for a football program going forward. That's Scott Strickland a day after he fired UF football coach, Billy Napier. Strickland is the athletic director at the University of Florida. The Gators have won three games, lost four this season, and lost more games during Napier's career and tenure as head coach at UF than he won. The university owns, though, now former head coach, about $21 million.

Half of that is due by the middle of next month. And Strickland says UF will honor Napier's contract, as written, while the school looks for a new head coach and the big pay package that likely will come. The market kind of dictates that. We're blessed that we have, you know, tremendous resources, but, you know, it's not unlimited. So we'll have to manage that, and we will. And, you know, the resources are not going to be a reason why we don't make the right decision going forward here. In time, Florida State football coach Mike Norville will keep his job for now. The Seminoles are three and four on the season with four.

straight losses. Until somebody tells me different, I have the absolute belief in long term. Now, if FSU fires Norville before his contract is up, the university would owe him more than $50 million. So two golden parachutes for two football coaches at public universities here in Florida, a total about $70 million. One has been deployed. One hasn't. How do the big time finances of big time Florida college football add up? Add up for students and players, faculty, and fans. there's our phone number on this Friday statewide 305-9-9-8-800 UF and FSU Alums what is a winning football team worth to you Matt Baker is with us now senior writer for the athletic covering college sports throughout the southeast

Matt welcome to the program nice to have you thanks for having me on so let's talk about the Billy Napier contract with UF which included that buyout of about $21 million how does that compare is it a market rate yeah it's as wild as it is to say that is a market rate. His contract owed him 85% of what was left on it, which is pretty standard in the industry when he signed a seven-year deal a few years back. You have to remember when we think about these buyouts and the way that they work is there's so much competition in such a limited amount of time. Because when coaches get fired, there's only a couple weeks, you know, a month in this case, before National Signing Day, right? The first one. So they're trying

to cram everything together, and there's a lot of schools jockeying for the same couple coaches, which means that the agents have all the leverage, and they're able to negotiate this stuff. It's economics 101 supply and demand, right? High demand for these coaches and limited supply. But, you know, I think back, to be candid and blunt here, Matt, Billy Napier was fired for performance, right? Correct. You know, in any normal job, firing for performance, odds are you probably don't collect 85% of what's due to you over whatever the future path may be. Why is college football so different? Well, you, sir, with all due respect, are thinking normally and rationally. This is college football. We don't do that. Fan stands for a fanatic, right? Correct. So there are

provisions where a coach can get nothing for being fired, but that's like an NCAA scandal, that's arrest, it's that sort of thing. But it's crazy that it is getting fired for cause. Four cause does not include being bad at your job, not signing the great recruits, you know, winning and losing. That has nothing to do with it. And again, it's all just because when these negotiations happen, there's, it's a condensed time frame against agents who are really, really good at their jobs and continue to be good at their jobs, right? Yeah. Now, you mentioned Mike Norvell in his situation, his buyout is so large because a couple years ago, when Nick Saban, the legendary coach at Alabama stepped down, Norvel was on the short list of potential candidates. So Florida

State had to give him a new deal or felt they had to give him a new deal. to keep them there. And that drives up the cost. Let me remind folks, you're listening to the Florida Rondo from your Florida Public Radio Station. We're talking about the golden parachutes of college football coaches here in the state of Florida with Matt Baker, senior writer for the athletic covering college sports. You mentioned Coach Norville, FSU. Is he safe in part because of that golden parachute if he were to be fired? I think that's some of it, but his contract's a little bit different. So it's 85% of what's left. But there's,

also what's called a mitigation clause. So it's his job, it's his responsibility if he were to get fired to look for a job elsewhere, and then there's an offset. So we're going to use round numbers here. Let's say Florida State owes him $10 million next year. And if he gets a new job, that pays him $5 million. Well, then Florida State only owes five. And that's spread out over the year. And it spread out, the 55, 56 million would be spread out over, I think it's six years. So it is a large amount of money. I'm not trying to diminish that, but it's also not like they they would owe him all of that tomorrow if they fired him today. It's not that.

Yeah, not a big publisher's clearinghouse check, for instance. No, no. Walks out of Tallahassee with. Wayne has been listening to our conversation in St. George Island. Go ahead, Wayne. You're on the radio. Oh, gentlemen. I think it's abhorrent that these athletic coaches at the college level get such large pay packages

and then are rewarded for their failure and their position. When you have educators at these campuses earning less, that are Nobel laureates earning less than $250,000 and the weight coach for the football team gets paid half a million, something seriously out of line. And I fail to believe that the economic value of a successful football team warrants these type of compensations. Wayne, great point. I want to put that, Matt, to you. The U.F. athletics revenue, total revenue last year was $200 million. FSU athletics total revenue, not just football, was 185 million. What about Wayne's point about the economic value of these coaches?

So, I mean, winning and losing matters a lot. It matters in terms of the hundreds of millions of dollars we talked about with athletics. But it's beyond that is what administrators will tell you, in terms of the pride that an alumnus or an alumina feels. It matters in terms of brand recognition. It matters in terms of donations and fundraising, not just for athletics, but for the university. It matters towards admissions and enrollment. All of those things. factor into it. Again, I want to be clear. I'm not defending. Sure. I'm explaining the economics here because, yes, it does absolutely seem crazy and wild, but it's what the market says. And if you don't want to be in it, then schools can drop out, but nobody's doing that. Well, right, to that

point, right, the schools, presumably, if they're rational economic actors in this, Matt, must be seen a return on that investment that they're making of however many dozens of millions of dollars of a golden parachute for a head coaching job, let alone a weight coach like what Wayne and St. George Island spoke about. Yeah, it's that. And they also have to show in some ways that they are committed to it. Because think about it from an athletic director perspective. If you're not winning games and you haven't done everything possible,

you're not paying the coaches the most so you're losing coaches to other schools. And right now you're not paying the players the most because that's legal. You're losing them to other schools. Then your job is on the line. Are you really committed to winning and losing or not? That's the type of conversation that happens, and that forces people's hands here to make sometimes irrational decisions. Less than a minute left here, Matt. What role do the changing college athletic conferences play in this race to the top for coaches' pay?

It's certainly a role. You know, you look at Florida State in particular. They're in the ACC right now, which is the third or fourth best conference. And in the next five years or so, there's going to be a big bang in terms of conference realignment and schools shifting around. And Florida State has been very vocal. about trying to move up. And if they continue to struggle, that's going to make that case harder. And that's, I don't think this is a stretch to say it's an existential issue for Florida

State Athletics at the highest level. And that's a factor that we have to consider here as well as you look at the product on the field and Mike Norvell's future. Matt Baker covers college football as a senior writer for the athletic. Matt, always a pleasure. Thanks so much for sharing your reporting with us. Sure. Thanks for having me. Enjoy what's left of college football season here as we are well-in-

to it in October. Share your thoughts. A fan or not, radio at the Florida Roundup.org as our email. All right, we've got plenty more to come. You're listening to The Florida Rondup 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 or Coveringflora.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along. Well, as the federal government shutdown stretches into its fourth week, federal workers are certainly feeling the effects on their household budgets. Employees are working for less or no pay while the White House threatens mass layoffs. I've even applied for a loan with my local credit union for assistance, and I've also been managing off of credit cards.

Tierra Carter answers the phones for the Social Security Administration in Tampa. She's also with the AFGE. That's the largest federal employee union. We're stressing about the fight that's going on in the White House. We're also stressing out about how we're going to handle our financial situations at home. We have to make sure that there's still food on the table. But at the same time, we're worried that, hey, if I can't make it today, am I going to be penalized for trying to feed my family? Carter spoke with Gabriella Paul from our partner station WUS.

in Tampa. The government shutdown is also being felt at the very end of the Florida Peninsula. The National Parks Conservation Association says more than 9,000 park service employees have been furloughed amid the government shutdown. National Parks system across the country stands to lose upwards of a million dollars in revenue per day. Reporter Anthony Cruz with partner station WLRN visited one of the three national parks here in Florida recently, the Everglades National Park. On a recent week and afternoon, they usually quiet and serene landscape of Everglades National Park were even quieter than usual. René Feded makes the 40-mile trek through the park usually twice a month to go glamping,

so he spends a good amount of time out here and he's familiar with the usual conditions in and around the park. The recent shutdown, he tells WLRN, brings him back to the 2019 shutdown when he saw firsthand how quickly the park became uncapped. The green spaces in Flamingo are being badly taken care of because there aren't people. to maintain them. On the same day, 36-year-old Brent Beringhouse took his family to Anahinga to see baby alligators. So when we came to the entrance was closed and, you know, first we were like, yes, we're in for free and we're like kind of felt a little guilty like we were kind of stealing or, you know,

we weren't giving back to the support the parks like we normally would. The National Parks Conservation Association is calling for the Interior Department to close the parks until Congress funds the government. I'm Anthony Cruz. cruise in Miami. Now, speaking of the Everglades, a new documentary breathes some new life into the words of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas. She's the woman credited with champion the ecosystem that stretches across the bottom of

the peninsula. The film is entitled River of Grass. That's the same title as Stonman Douglas' seminal 1947 book about the Everglades. We spoke with the film's co-producer, Ali Kodina, and director, Sasha Wardsall. You use Sasha archival film of Marjorie when she was in her 90s in her home. in Coconut Grove, which still is standing today. And you mix it in with a lot of her own words from that book from the late 1940s. What do you think she has to say to new generations of Floridians about the Everglades?

You know, initially I set out to make a film that would reimagine her text, her book, River of Grass, and put passages in conversation with portraits of people across the region and to sort of bring it up to the present day from 1945. 47 and to bring that book into the future. I had a dream over the course of making the film where Marjorie said, what about me? I have things to say. People have forgotten me. It's great that you're working with my book, but what about me? So I went looking for her and I found this incredible archival footage that's in the film. And one of the things I was so struck by was how resonant what she was saying in these interviews and also how unapologetic and fears she was but how relevant it was to us now and towards the end of the film there's an interview

where the journalist asks her will the war ever be won and she says maybe not or not in the way we want it to be but you have to keep fighting and that became a really important message for me in the making of the film and a reminder that you know the struggle is very real alley there's a clip of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas in this archival film that's included in the film in 1947 when River of Gras was published. She talks about how many more tens of thousands of people had moved to Florida compared to when she became a Floridian 40 or 50 years earlier. I think there was that interest in Florida and the other days is the one thing they didn't know about. Is that still true today, do you think? I think it's very true today.

It's fascinating how growing up in Miami, I remember the first time I went to. to the Everglades was in second grade when we went on a field trip and we went on a mikosukee airboat ride and I was blown away because I had grown up and I did grow up fishing and I think in Miami there are plenty of people who spent time out in the beach or they go out fishing or boating or diving and it's pretty incredible how disconnected that world is in most people's minds from this distant, menacing, bizarre place that is the Everglades. And even still, when I tell friends and family that I'm going camping with my kids, my kids have grown up in the swamp. Are you sure? What about the gators? And yes, and I think it's one of the beautiful

opportunities of this film. It's an invitation to connect and to fall in love with this place. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Rondo from your Florida Public Radio Station. We're speaking with co-producer Ali Kodina and director Sasha Wardsill about their film, The River of Grass. There's another section of the film that I think the viewer may see with a different lens today than if they saw your film even a few months ago. And this is the part regarding the jet port, which was the airport that was almost built in Miami-Dade and Collier counties. This is known as the Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport. It's also been known or renamed Alligator Alcatraz, of course, with the immigration enforcement strategy from the Trump administration and the DeSantis administration. It was a fight with the Micosukees back then in the late 60s when it was proposed.

And, Allie, it was a Republican who canceled the jet port. The White House said today that Florida will not build a jet port near the Everglades, but will receive federal assistance in finding a new set. Right. President Nixon called it an outstanding victory for conservation. How do you think about the inclusion of the Jetport story in the Everglades today here in late 2025, given what has happened just in the past few months with that facility? For me, personally, I have found extraordinary power and inspiration in watching a very, very similar coalition of people gather as they did in the 70s. You have fishermen, you have hunters, you have the Glacier. men who've lived there for generations, and that's also their home.

Of course, the Mekisuki and Native communities. And you also have Friends of the Everglades, which was founded by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas. So Marjorie in the 70s, this fearless, irreverent, amazing woman. But she was unstoppable, and it's been beautiful also watching that how out in these different prayer gatherings and protests and any of the pushback that there's been with Alligator Alcatraz, people are relying on Marjorie's voice. You see quotes of hers and the signs. Sasha, I'm wondering what are your thoughts about that Jetport chapter in the Everglades today

and how the audiences will see that, which is much different than perhaps what you intended as the director of this film when you were including it prior to Alligator Alcatraz. Maybe the intention hasn't changed, but how it'll land absolutely well. I think that it is very important. for our present-day movements to protect the environment or any, you know, organizing around any injustice in the world to look at what's come before and what's happened in the past as a sort of roadmap to use for now. We never could have predicted when we made this film how relevant it would be, but we do highlight this eerily parallel moment where the Mikasuki tribe,

Marjorie Stone and Douglas, people from all walks of life, unlikely coalitions, together and they shut down that project. Sasha, Ali, thank you so much for sharing your film with us. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Sasha Wartzel is the director of the documentary film River of Grass. Alexander Codina is the co-producer. And finally on the roundup, game one of the World Series is Friday night. He was shooting out. And for the first time in 32 years, the Blue Jays have won the pennant. He is there. He's got it. And the ball game is over, and the Los Angeles Dodgers have won the National League penned. It's the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Now, both Florida Major League teams ended their seasons weeks ago, winning fewer than half their games. So who is a Floridian to root for in this World Series? Well, there are plenty of New Yorkers who call Florida home now, probably some who still remember when the Dodgers played in Brooklyn. Maybe they're feeling of abandonment. has gone away and they're no longer bitter about that move more than 65 years ago.

But lots of Canadians call Florida home too, at least for part of the year. And that includes the Blue Jays. Spring training for the team from Toronto is in Dunedin up the coast from St. Pete. And the Blue Jays have always remained committed to Florida. They've held their spring training here since they became a major league team back in the 1970s.

Now, baseball is about tradition. It's also about personalities. And who doesn't love the Dodgers, Shohay Otani, a fantastic pitcher and home run hitter. You know, his performance in game four of the National League Championship has been called the greatest baseball performance in the history of the game. He was the starting pitcher and he hit three home runs after all. The Blue Jays have a field of stars too, but one of their most compelling stories, I think,

is that of a 64-year-old who rides the bench. Don Maddingly is the Toronto bench coach. He played 14 seasons with the Yankees. He then helped coach the Yankees during the team's spring training in Tampa, then he went on to manage the Dodgers for a few years before returning here to Florida to manage the Miami Marlins. And after more than 30 years in the league, this is Maddingly's first world series. Oh, and finally consider that the Blue Jay, the bird, not the baseball team, can be seen and heard flying around our Florida skies.

That is our program this week. The Florida Rondup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WSF in Tampa by Bridget O'Brien and Denise Royal. WLRN's vice president of radio is Peter Merritt's. The program's technical director is M.J. Smith. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto J. and Jackson Har. Our theme music is from Miami Jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at Aaron Leibos.com. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and above all, supporting public radio in your part 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 coveringflora.org.