Palm Beach Property Owners Plea For Tax Help
The good news? Many Palm Beach County residents received a property tax reduction on Thursday night.
The bad news? The savings resulting from said tax break might be able to buy them lunch at McDonald’s. Or maybe Chili’s. We’re talking about saving $9 a year if your home is worth $325K. Not exactly going to help with already-sky-high Florida home loan payments, is it?
County commissioners voted unanimously to drop the rates of the county’s property taxes by less than a percent, marking the second time in two months that they decided to lower the rate. The commission agreed to cut $3 million in unallocated money from Palm Beach’s spending plan, resulting in the decrease.
During a public hearing on the budget, 20 residents and business leaders pleaded with county commissioners to slash the county’s tax rate and find a way to curb higher-than-expected property tax bills in Palm Beach County.
Resident Mark Valladoa said his rent has increased $200 a month because of hefty property assessments. Property taxes on the eight-unit building have climbed an astonishing 200 percent from last year, he said.
“You are looking for affordable housing, but at the same time you are pushing us all out. This is ridiculous and everybody here feels the same way,” he said.
But commissioners told Valladoa, and a crowd of about 50 people, that those frustrations should be aimed at the property appraiser.
People who received hefty tax bills are those who lost their homestead exemption when they moved, rental property owners and commercial real estate owners, the commission said. About 60-70 percent of county residents are protected by the Save Our Homes amendment, which prevents a property’s assessed value from increasing more than 3 percent this year.
County Property Appraiser Gary R. Nikolits did not attend the hearing, but is expected to appear before the commission tomorrow to discuss property assessments.
According to the Palm Beach Post, appraisers are bound by state law to base appraisals on real estate sales, St. Lucie Property Appraiser Jeff Furst said at a similar meeting Thursday in Fort Pierce. The final budget hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. on September 22.
Local Republicans suggested the commission implement a hiring freeze, and transfer $100 million a year from its reserves for the next five years. The change, they said, would result in a 4 percent tax reduction for most county taxpayers.
County Administrator Bob Weisman countered that the five-year plan wouldn’t work because there would be little money left over in the event of hurricanes, disasters, and other necessities that may arise.
“You literally couldn’t function as a government, because you’ve got to have cash on hand,” Weisman said.
In July, commissioners voted unanimously to drop the mill rate to $4.30 per $1,000 of property value, from the proposed rate of $4.35 and last year’s rate of $4.45. Thursday’s decision would drop the tax rate to $4.28.
At the $4.28 rate, the owner of a $325,000 home with a $25,000 homestead exemption would pay about $9 less in property taxes this year. $9! The county’s tax rate does not include taxes for the school board or other districts.
The proposed $3.9 billion spending plan has been under fire since July, when watchdog Florida TaxWatch released a report commissioned by the Economic Council of Palm Beach County noting that tax collections in the county have soared beyond the area’s income and population growth.
Weisman has maintained that real estate taxes paid by a homeowner in unincorporated Palm Beach County living in a $250,000 house are about $1,200 less than that paid by similar homeowners in unincorporated Broward County.
With Florida mortgage loan costs and insurance premiums at high levels, area homeowners feel the pinch of increasing property taxes extra hard. Hopefully a solution can be worked out that provides the county with sufficient funding, but limits the adverse impact on its residents.
