Florida lawmakers are navigating a political minefield: whether to radically reshape or even eliminate property taxes that cities and counties use to pay for critical services, including police and fire-rescue.

“This is a shift in the paradigm,” state Rep. Griff Griffitts, a Panama City Beach Republican, said as lawmakers wrapped up two days of in-depth hearings on the issue. “We have to figure it out, doing (so) in a very conscientious way.”

What, if anything, to do around property taxes involves a thicket of complicated policy questions:

— How to pay for services — including public safety and schools.

— Whether some property owners are paying too much in property taxes.

— Trying to determine if local governments are wise stewards of tax money or profligate spenders.

— What taxes co

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