Have you ever tried to find out where all the extra money collected is going? I’m referring to the increase in the property tax base and resulting increase in tax dollars collected.
Businesses and rental property do not qualify for 1.9% maximum annual increase for homes with homestead exemptions. So a property assessed one year at $500,000 and the next year at $750,000 gets the full property tax increase. This is why so many are selling their rental properties. The cost of owning and maintaining a property has drastically outpaced the rental values. If you can’t make a profit or stay even, then the only reason to keep the property is if the overall value outpaces other income opportunities or it satisfies other risk or tax purposes.
Back to finding values. They don’t post year to year data on the county or property tax web site. The South Florida Water Management District has a 10.95% increase in taxable value from 2004 to 2005. They did not lower the millage rate.
Education:
The information below about property taxes collected and used does not add up. Sources are referenced with varying data.
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/comptroller/budget_doclinks.htm
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/comptroller/finrptg_doclinks.htm
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/comptroller/pdfs/Financial%20Rptg/CAFR_2005.pdf
Broward County School Board ad valorem revenue
1999 $605M
2005 $907M (50% increase in 6 years)
The revenue increase from PROPERTY TAXES was only 1% from 1999 to 2000.
The State Constitution limits the non-voted levying of taxes by the District to 10 mills ($10.00 per thousand of assessed valuation). State law prescribes the upper limit of non-voted taxes to be levied on an annual basis, with the fiscal year 2005 limit being 8.0140 mills, which includes up to 2.0 mills for the Capital Projects Funds. The voter approved levy for debt service is limited to 6.0 mills; for fiscal year 2005, the levy was .2555 mills
for the Debt Service Funds.
http://www.broward.org/budget/yr2005/bib/06revenues.pdf
In fiscal year 2005, overall County-wide property tax revenue increases $75.0 million, about 10% increase in budget.
Enterprise funds, which support some of the most expensive county services (such as water/wastewater, waste management, the airport and the port) are funded by their own designated revenues, while some of the
most visible County services (such as law enforcement, libraries and parks) are funded primarily with property taxes. The fiscal year 2005 budget is supported by $806.1 million in County-wide property taxes, or 32
percent of the total budget.
The County Millage Rate was reduced from last year
7.1880 to 7.023
So in my quick analysis, budgets (the application of property tax dollars collected) are rising about 10% per year while income is rising about 1% per year.
INCOME FACTS
resource for Broward county employment and other factoids
http://www.eflorida.com/profiles/CountyReport.asp?CountyID=6&Display=all
Keep abreast of current property tax legislation with this handy links page
http://www.bcpa.net/index.cfm?page=legislation
There is a proposal or draft suggested by legislatures to make a law limited the annual increase allowed. I don’t recall specifically who’s handling this in Tallahassee. In effect, if the property tax base increases 20%, the county might only be able to increase tax revenues 10%. Anything else would have to be lowered by reducing the millage rate. Obviously this is not just our county, but statewide. I’m pretty sure the number being floated is 10% not something more like 3-5% which is more in line with standard cost of living adjustments.
Do you think there should be a law that limits the amount of increase the county collects each year? What percentage should it be?