More Owners Expected to Challenge Florida Property Taxes

The number of Florida mortgage holders fighting to lower their tax bills is expected to grow by as much as 40 percent this year - the highest number of challenges in more than a decade.As many as 14,000 property owners are expected to file petitions challenging their property assessments and homestead classifications with the county’s value adjustment board, a five-member group of county commissioners and school board members that oversees appeals, Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock said.

Property owners have until 5 p.m. Friday to submit their petitions to the clerk’s office. They must pay a $15 administrative fee for it to be processed.

Last year, more than 10,000 property owners fought their bills. Just over half challenged the assessed value of their property. At the time, it was the largest number of petitions filed since 1994, the year before the Save Our Homes cap limiting assessment increases took effect.

But it appears that record will be broken this year. As of Friday, Bock said the office had already logged roughly 18.5 percent more petitions than they had at this time last year. The number is expected to grow as the deadline nears, she said.

Under the adjustment board’s rules, the property appraiser’s assessment is presumed correct. To overturn it, challengers must prove that the office’s assessment was higher than what the home would have sold for on Jan. 1.

Many Florida mortgage holders with homestead exemptions have filed petitions this year because their taxable value rose while their market value dropped, Bock said.

Under the Save Our Homes assessment cap, the taxable value of homesteaded properties can rise by no more than 3 percent a year or the rate of inflation, which was 2.5 percent in 2006. Save Our Homes allows increases even in a down Florida housing market because often the assessed value is well below market value.

“Most people do not understand how their values decreased, but their assessed value increased,” Bock said. “That’s an issue in which the public is very angry over.”

Commercial property owners are also filing petitions because of the real estate slump, Bock said.
County Commissioner Jess Santamaria said he plans to challenge the value of all of the residential investment property he owns. Residents who feel their values are too high should do the same, he said.

“The prices are artificial,” Santamaria said. “Between 2002 and 2005 they spiraled to double and triple the value on paper. But those were artificial values. Now we are starting to come down to reality. The prices may still continue to drop until they become realistic, and until then you’ll have to contest it.”

In February, Santamaria declined a seat on the value adjustment board, saying he feared potential conflicts of interested because of the properties he owns in the county.

Sherry Lee, who represents CUTS — Cut Unfair Taxes and Spending - said local budget cuts and the property tax reform measure approved by state lawmakers this year have not done enough to lower residents’ tax bills. Many owners are now looking to the value adjustment board for relief, she said.

“I am getting a sense that that is where we are going to see a lot of the anxiety playing out over this year,” said Lee, who plans to challenge the values of five properties she owns. “It seems like this year people are going to be more focused on their values.”

SOURCE: The Palm Beach Post