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By MIKE SALINERO
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - On radio talk shows and computer message boards, a simmering resentment is building over Tom and Cynthia Tate’s good fortune.

People wonder why a family living on affluent Davis Islands needs help from the hit TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

“I don’t understand the charity needed for the Tates,” an e-mailer wrote to a TBO.com message board. “I am sure they can afford to build again.”

Why, they wonder, didn’t the family’s homeowners insurance cover the cost to rebuild?

“I don’t begrudge them a new house, but it seemed like it was their responsibility; they should have been up to date with their insurance,” said another e-mailer.

The resentment stems in part from the sketchy information given about what happened with the insurance, and because Davis Islands residents generally are perceived as wealthy.

The Tate family is out of town while their new home is being built and could not be reached Friday. Tom Tate’s sister-in-law and the TV show’s executive producer say the Tates’ insurance had indeed lapsed, either through an error on the family’s part or on the part of the bank that refinanced their mortgage in 2005.

Despite what most people think, they said, there are people on Davis Islands living paycheck to paycheck.

“People can feel like Joe Shmoe is more deserving than Tom and Cynthia,” said Jeanne Tate, the sister-in-law. “But that doesn’t mean they’re wealthy people. It doesn’t mean they have a pot to crawl into besides the [new] house.”

Plane, But Not Simple

Tom and Cynthia Tate bought their Davis Islands home in 1993 and raised their three children there: Ryan, 21, Tommy, 14, and Loren, 11. Tom works at a Davis Islands restaurant, Tate Brothers Pizza.

Although it has been reported that he owns the pizza shop, Jeanne Tate said the business is owned by his father.

On June 12, a plane careened off the runway at nearby Peter O. Knight Airport and crashed into the Tates’ home. The crash killed the pilot and severely injured the co-pilot. Cynthia Tate was home alone that day, but escaped injury. The family pets died in the crash.

At the time, the four-bedroom, 1,773-square-foot home had a market value of $368,000 and a taxable value of $223,000, according to property records. The family had refinanced in 2005, and mortgage records show they owed $165,000 at the time of the refinancing.

Jeanne Tate said that shortly after the crash, the family received a letter from their property insurer saying their policy had been canceled for nonpayment.

Before the crash, she said, the couple had received a notice from the insurance company saying they owed between $100 and $200. She said they ignored the letter because they thought a year’s worth of premiums had been paid upfront by their bank and the cost would be added to their mortgage payments. That is how they paid insurance under their old mortgage.

Jeanne Tate, who said she is a lawyer, said the couple cannot sue the bank for not notifying them that the insurance needed to be paid. Although banks and mortgage companies insist that the property be insured, that is only to protect their loan, not the homeowners.

The Tates recently reached a settlement with AIG, the company that insured the plane, according to AIG attorney John Murray. The details of the settlement were not disclosed, but Jeanne Tate said the insurer paid to clean up airplane fuel on their property and gave the family a small lump sum to cover some of their belongings lost in the crash.

Now that “Extreme Makeover” is building their home free, the Tates cannot sue AIG for the value of the home, Jeanne Tate said.

“You can’t double-dip; that’s the law,” she said. “If ‘Extreme Makeover’ hadn’t rebuilt the house, the insurance company would have been liable for the fair market value of the house, which was hundreds of thousands of dollars less than what it would cost to rebuild.”

New Law Gives Tates A Break

In addition to a new home, the Tates will be able to take advantage of a law passed last year that will lessen the property tax increase they will face next year.

In the wake of the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes, the Florida Legislature passed a law that shelters new homes from valuation increases if the old home was destroyed by a calamity.

The Tates’ former home was protected by the Save Our Homes amendment, which caps homesteaded property tax increases at 3 percent a year. Had a plane not hit their home, and had they torn it down to build a new one, their new house would have been reappraised at current market values.

Under the new law, however, up to 110 percent of the square footage of their old home will stay capped at the lower tax rate in the new home. That means that though the new “Extreme Makeover” home will be 3,400 square feet, only about 1,400 square feet will face the new, higher valuation.

Also, the tax rate on the land itself will stay capped because the Tates plan to continue living there, according to Warren Weathers, Hillsborough County chief deputy property appraiser.

Weathers said a new 3,500-square-foot house on Davis Islands probably would be taxed at $19,000 a year. Because of the breaks the Tates are getting under the calamity law and the capped value on the land, they will pay about $10,000 a year starting in 2008. They were paying $5,500 a year, Weathers said.

Fans of the show have grown to expect heart-wrenching tales about families facing unusual challenges. Compared with some of those families - those with disabilities or with sick children - the plight of the Tate family seems less dire.

Denise Cramsey, the executive producer of “Extreme Makeover,” said the program did an in-depth investigation of the Tates and found that they were needy and deserving of help.

Their story is expected to be broadcast on ABC in March.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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