BARTOW, Fla. \u2013 The Florida Citrus Commission voted Wednesday to cut taxes collected on citrus boxes in the 2014-15 season, providing welcome relief to the state\u2019s growers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The one-year tax cut is expected to have an impact on Florida Department of Citrus revenue of $4.6 million and can be achieved, according to Executive Director Doug Ackerman, without cutting existing FDOC programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cConservative budgeting and strategic investments have allowed us to build our fund balance giving us the ability to ease the burden of growers without compromising our commitment to promoting Florida Citrus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growers will pay $.03 less for the processed orange category and $.07 less for fresh and processed grapefruit as well as\u00a0fresh and processed specialty categories during the 2014-15 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cut will reduce the FDOC\u2019s reserve fund balance, but it will not affect the overall operating budget of the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FCC Chairman Marty McKenna made the motion to move forward with the cut with a reminder that the assessment rate will be reviewed again at the start of next year\u2019s season and underscoring the Commission\u2019s consensus intention that the abatement would impact only the current year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud that \u2013 thanks to the conservative efforts of our Commission and staff \u2013 we are able to give dollars back to the growers,\u201d McKenna said. \u201cIt is our hope that this relief will allow growers to continue to invest in the future of Florida Citrus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commissioner Michael Haycock, who chairs the Commission\u2019s Administrative and Budget committee, spoke in support of McKenna\u2019s motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to do everything we can to give growers the best chance they can of keeping the crop where it is,\u201d Haycock said. \u201cI think giving back this money, which is the growers\u2019 money to begin with, and then starting fresh next year with all the budget challenges we have, is the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About the Florida\u00a0Citrus Commission<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Florida Citrus Commission is the governing board of the Florida Department of Citrus, an executive agency of the Florida government charged with the marketing, research and regulation of the Florida citrus industry. The commission is a nine-member board appointed by the governor to represent citrus growers, processors and packers. FDOC activities are funded by a tax paid by growers on each box of citrus that moves through commercial channels. The industry employs nearly 76,000 people and\u00a0provides an annual economic impact close to $9 billion to the state. For more information about the Florida Department of Citrus, please visit\u00a0<\/em>FloridaCitrus.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BARTOW, Fla. \u2013 The Florida Citrus Commission voted Wednesday to cut taxes collected on citrus boxes in the 2014-15 season, providing welcome relief to the state\u2019s growers. The one-year tax […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":85,"template":"","fdoc_news_item_category":[81,82,80],"fdoc_citrus_type":[110,107],"fdoc_health_category":[],"class_list":["post-4157","fdoc-news-item","type-fdoc-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fdoc_news_item_category-budget","fdoc_news_item_category-commissioner-notes","fdoc_news_item_category-fdoc","fdoc_citrus_type-grapefruit","fdoc_citrus_type-orange"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item\/4157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fdoc-news-item"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fdoc_news_item_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_news_item_category?post=4157"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_citrus_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_citrus_type?post=4157"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_health_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_health_category?post=4157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}