TAMPA — Last year, Hillsborough elections chief Buddy Johnson borrowed almost $1-million to buy an oak-shrouded tract off Thonotosassa Road near Plant City. He named it Oak Creek Estates, subdivided it into six lots and moved into a ramshackle home at the rear of the property.

Now, Johnson is seeking a lucrative agricultural tax exemption on the property that could reduce the assessed value of the land from $614,428 to $5,855. If the "greenbelt" exemption is granted, his estimated property tax bill could be lowered from $12,626 to $120.

Johnson says he deserves the tax break because someone else's cows are grazing on his property. In exemption applications filed with the Hillsborough Property Appraiser's Office, Johnson says he should get a greenbelt exemption on all six lots of the 19.98-acre Oak Creek Estates.

The property appraiser has until July 1 to decide whether to grant the request.

"The test is, is it a bona fide agricultural use with a reasonable expectation of making a profit?" said Will Shepherd, general counsel for the county property appraiser. "Or is it just a gimmick to get a tax break?"

Shepherd said his office will have to determine the ownership of the cattle, find out if there was a good business reason for moving them to Johnson's property, then decide if the grazing activity constitutes a real commercial agricultural use.

Because the quality of pasture land can differ significantly, there is no formula for number of cattle per acre to determine greenbelt. Johnson's requests are among some 600 greenbelt applications in Hillsborough this year.

A reporter visited Johnson's property last week and counted seven cows. Much of the land is a dense live oak hammock whose shade inhibits growth.

Food was available, though, because several bales of hay had been dumped on one end of the property.

For Shepherd, that raised a question: "If you have to truck in hay, why are they using this property for livestock?"

Johnson would not agree to be interviewed about his greenbelt applications. He said he would only answer questions submitted in writing. But when the St. Petersburg Times posed written questions, Johnson declined to answer any of them.

Instead, he replied with a brief e-mail:

"As you know, I purchased the property on Thonotosassa Road for my homestead with the hope that my kids might live there one day as well. I live in the house that you photographed some time ago. I leased the land to a cattle farmer. Other than that, nothing much has changed.''

Although Johnson makes the 884-square-foot home at the rear of the property his homestead, the property appraiser has rejected his application for a $25,000 homestead exemption.

Only an individual may be granted the exemption, and Johnson bought the property, including the small home, under a corporate name, Fort Bully East LLC. Johnson, the former director of the Florida Division of Real Estate, was apparently unaware of the homestead requirement.

Johnson has a track record as a successful developer, having bought another piece of property in the Plant City area in the late 1990s, subdivided it into seven lots called Creekside Acres and more than doubled his money.

But he says he has no plans to develop or market the Oak Creek Estates subdivision.

"I am not in the development business nor am I moving into the development business,'' Johnson said last year when queried about his six new lots.

Shepherd said it is not unusual for developers to rotate cattle from one property to another to get the greenbelt exemption while they await the right time to begin development.

"It's not uncommon at all,'' he said. "Most of the guys who are getting greenbelt are developers."

Last year, two bills were filed in Florida to close the loopholes on developers exploiting greenbelt exemptions. The bills sought to crack down, in the words of Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale Beach, on the use of "Hertz Rent-A-Cows" to obtain agricultural tax breaks. Both bills failed.

In buying the Thonotosassa property and a luxury 13th-floor Rivo at Ringling condo in Sarasota last year, Johnson took on considerable debt. The mortgages for the two purchases total $1.32-million, about 10 times the $131,878 annual salary he draws as elections supervisor.

Johnson, a three-term state representative appointed Hillsborough elections supervisor by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2003, was elected in 2004 and is now seeking re-election.

Johnson said last year he was able to handle his mortgage debt because he was leasing the Sarasota condo to a tenant.

Yet when he took out the condo mortgages, Johnson signed documents pledging to use the unit as a second home, not as a rental. Reminded of that pledge, Johnson said last year he would get a legal opinion on his use of the condo.

But Johnson never released any opinion, and this week, he again refused to address questions about who is leasing his condo or whether the lease violates his signed pledge.

Jeff Testerman can be reached at testerman@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3422.

Assessed value
before exemption

$614,428

PROPOSED: Assessed
value after exemption

$5,855

Property tax bill
before exemption

$12,626

PROPOSED: Property
tax bill after exemption

$120