The 22-page guide came up when Rubio mentioned that lobbyists for local governments are opposing tax cuts and “they’re using your money to do it.”

The guide, titled “Communicating Effectively on Florida’s Property Tax Debate,” is billed as “a toolkit” of tips and strategies to help county governments convey to the media, legislators and the public how property tax reform resulting from this month’s special legislative session could affect services.

The guide offers week-by-week strategies for the month of May and through the start of the session on June 12. It recommends that counties come up with lists of services, programs and staff that could be cut in the wake of a reduction in property tax revenue and hold public meetings to communicate those.

The guide also offers so-called “theme messages” and supporting points. Among the themes are: “Cuts to local services are real” and “Growth demands services.”

There is even a “template speech.”

“Please understand, proposals currently being debated in the legislature would spark a second crisis by eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars — even billions — of funding for services and programs you and other citizens use every day,” the speech reads.

In an e-mail blast sent this week, Linda Hayward, the tax crusader who invited Rubio to the county, called the guide “a playbook to be used in the war on tax relief by local governments and their supporters ... with the purpose to delay or eliminate any chance of property tax relief this year.”

Hernando County, she said, is following the guide to the letter.

“Now we know why all the cities, towns, and counties put out their propaganda with the same script,” she said.

Rep. Rob Schenck, R-Spring Hill, called the guide “appalling.”

“I think (the FAC) has not only drastically overstepped their bounds, but to out and out twist what the legislature is trying to do to benefit their clients is a disservice to citizens of Florida,” Schenck said. “It’s really insulting.”

County Commissioner David Russell, a former state representative, said the FAC “has gone overboard,” conducting a lobby that’s been “in-your-face and almost antagonistic in its approach.”

“Now they’re trying to bully the lawmakers into submission,” Russell said. “There are some egos up there (in Tallahassee) who won’t have that and it has the opposite effect.”

Founded in 1929, the FAC is a private, nonprofit organization that boasts membership from all of Florida’s 67 counties. Dues for each county are based on population. Hernando paid $16,680 this year.

The FAC mission reads, in part, “to preserve and promote democratic principles by working to keep appropriate authority at the level of government closest to the people.”

That is exactly what the group sought by publishing the guide, said FAC Communications Director Cragin Mosteller.

Mosteller, who stressed the group supports tax reform and offered its own plan back in November, said she was surprised by the controversy the guide has caused in Hernando County. Aside from “a few blog hits” from other places throughout the state, this is the only place where criticism has rung out, she said.

“We’re not telling anybody to make up something,” Mosteller said. “What we are telling them is to say what it is. I think local governments have an obligation to share with their citizens how their life will be impacted and it will ultimately be up to the citizens to decide.”

Mosteller said it was inaccurate that the association paid $37,000 for the guide, a rumor that had angered some residents who saw it is as their tax money being used to fight tax cuts that would ultimately benefit them.

She said FAC paid that sum to public relations firm Hill & Knowlton for general services while it sought a new communications director. Mosteller put the guide together herself using some information provided by the PR firm, she said.

Residents don’t have to take the FAC’s word for it, but can go straight to the source as counties put together budgets based on ad valorem cuts of up to 50 percent, Mosteller said.

“The numbers don’t lie,” she said.

Hernando County Deputy Administrator Larry Jennings made the same offer. He said he was familiar with the guide but that the county was taking its own approach to informing the public and trying to avoid jumping to conclusions until the Legislature takes action.

Jennings said some of the suggestions made by the FAC are common sense the county had instituted long before the guide came out.

“We’re making every effort to make our budget process more transparent,” Jennings said.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be contacted at 352-544-5286.