State lawmaker and former technology company founder Kevin Steele officially entered Florida's CFO race after months of speculation.
Steele is the wealthiest state lawmaker since he was elected in 2022. He's been one of the champions of the several property tax reduction proposals currently being debated in the Florida legislature. And he's been carrying the torch on that issue for a while, filing several bills last year that would have reduced property taxes. A Tampa Bay native, the lawmaker has four daughters and two grandkids with his wife, Michelle.
He is not the only candidate so far in the race. Blaise Ingoglia, the current state CFO who was appointed to the job in July to fill a vacancy, is also running for the job.
WFSU's Tristan Wood spoke with Steele about why he is running, his property tax proposal and what he believes he offers other candidates in the race do not.
The interview has been edited for brevity.
Wood: Why are you running for this job specifically?
Steele: I founded a company built entirely on efficiencies and maximizing every dollar and eliminating waste. And I think it's important that we bring that same mindset, you know.
There is an affordability crisis that's going on, and it's exacerbated by the insurance crisis, and there is a pressing issue to rein in spending and reduce waste across all levels of government, and that is my background.
I plan to draw from my experience in the private sector, where I've successfully used innovation and technology to create jobs, cut waste and make more efficient organizations. So, that's why I'm running, I think it's important that we have something that's done that before.
Wood: Your time in the legislature, what are some of the things that you've done that you're most proud of?
Steele: I ran a bill to stop the scammers for senior citizens. I ran a bill last session as well that was allowing senior citizens and or vulnerable adults to use the same means as they were notified from scammers to be scammed, to actually use that same way to notify the scammer. So, if they were scammed on Facebook, they could use Facebook to notify so they could stop the proceeds from being taken from them.
I've got some new ones that I'm running this session that are, that are going to be, I think, great for Floridians.
House Joint Resolution 201, is probably my pride and joy. It's the second year I've run property tax relief, but this is the most comprehensive tax reform for homeowners in the state of Florida. It should cut most property taxes in half. My plan would be to get rid of all property taxes over time, but it's not realistic to jump right into that, but those are just the top to name a few.
Wood: I know concerns about property taxes have kind of been the main topic of conversation amongst a lot of lawmakers. Why do you think your proposal is the answer, And why do you think this issue is important to Floridians?
Steele: Okay, so the state of Florida is, you know, in a crunch right now, we have affordability issues. We have insurance issues, we have property tax issues, all of those around affordability.
I became aware of this issue by people who called me after they got their T.R.I.M. notice, and they were complaining about my county, and they were raising the millage rate. The values went up from the tax assessor. And then on top of that, they were adding new taxes, you know, for roads and parks.
That was when Biden was still the president United States, and there were issues with inflation, and people couldn't even afford their medication. So, the idea that we were going to increase property taxes was, to me, unrealistic. So ever since then, I've been tackling that issue.
That's why I still am running this bill, or this house joint resolution to reduce the property taxes. It is important, I think, ultimately, you want to own your own piece of property, not necessarily just rent it. And it would, it would drive more people, I think, to home ownership than actually we have today.
Wood: You've made this property tax issue a tent poll for yourself. There's other people running for CFO that are also having similar messaging about property taxes and that they're the ones that need to cut the government spending. What do you offer that they don't have?
Steele: Well, I can just say that I was doing it before it was it was something that was out in the open.
Last year, I DOGED an agency, you know, and found a lot of wasteful stuff that was going on inside the agency, upwards of $48 million if all the things that I recommended would have been changed, and that's one agency. That issue is in every single agency, there's 35 agencies in the state.
So, if we approach it in a way where we are not just targeting local government, we're actually tightening our belt at a state level, and then, and then that would trickle down. I think there's, there's an approach that we need to take and it should start where we are, in an area we can actually have an effect on.
Wood: I know a lot of the conversation has been on wasteful spending at the local level. Why do you think it's important to additionally focus that at wasteful spending at the state level?
Steele: As a CFO, as a state representative, as a senator, your effect is at the state level. And so, I think you can have influence on a local level, but at the end of the day, we have to fix what we can control. And at the state level, there's a lot of areas that we need to fix.
I think it's important that the message gets out that I'm here to actually cut costs, have it more affordable for Floridians again. I think the biggest thing that I've seen since I've been in Florida is that inflation has hit this place pretty hard, and we haven't done much to address it over the past eight years.
I think it's important that we focus on bringing the cost down. And that's all I've done since I've been in office. This position as the CFO helps, you know, identify those things with contract management. And so, I think the biggest thing is focusing on areas that we, you know, should cut and that would happen with me in there.
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