Q&A of the Day – Proposed Property Taxes
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
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Today’s entry: My property taxes haven’t gone below $5000 in years. I just received my latest proposed property tax for this year and it’s $3,957.86. If this becomes an actuality, it will be a significant decrease. Is this due to concern about recently completed local D.O.G.E. Inspections, you're shining the light on Palm Beach County’s taking maximum amounts of revenue whenever possible, or something else?
Bottom Line: First of all, I’m happy for you that you’re seeing what sounds like meaningful property tax relief this year. Second of all, what you’re experiencing isn’t the norm as property tax assessments generally went considerably higher yet again this year. So, about that...
Property tax season is here with TRIM, or Truth in Millage notices having already been issued by county property appraisers, and the deadline for challenges to one’s assessed property value needing to be filed no later than next Monday, September 15th, in Palm Beach County in order to be considered by the Value Adjustment Board.
Property taxes have been a hot topic for years in Florida due to the rapid increase in property values and taxes that have risen right along with them. This has culminated in the DeSantis administration’s push for the elimination of homesteaded property taxes to aid in affordability going forward, though that’s a matter that will be decided by the legislature and potentially voters next year. As for the current property tax situation, it looks like this...
The average property tax assessment for Palm Beach County this year (based on 2024’s estimated value) rose by 7.7%. This also includes increases in all but one of Palm Beach County’s communities, South Palm Beach, where assessed values were shown to have declined by less than one percent. Aside from the condo-heavy community of South Palm Beach, assessed values were shown to have increased by 3.7% in Atlantis to as high as 27% in Westlake.
Looking out across other counties, the story is largely the same. Martin County’s average increase in assessed property values across its five districts was 8.4%, with one community, the Village of Indiantown, showing a slight decrease in assessed property values (1.6%). In St. Lucie the average increase checked in at 7.5% and in Indian River County increases pacing 6%+ with increases across all communities.
In answer to your questions about whether the recently enacted DOGE audits or other scrutiny of property taxation has factored into assessments, the answer is no. All the assessments are based on 2024 market activity, and the preliminary assessments were finalized early this year, prior to the DOGE audits having been announced.
Without knowing the specifics of your situation, the 20%+ decline you’ve experienced is unusual, however there is one category of properties that did experience a decline in assessed values that topped 20% in select communities – older condominium buildings. Condo communities with buildings that are older than 30 years often experienced declines in property assessed value last year, with average declines pacing about 22% in select buildings within the Palm Beaches.
The combination of a lack luster housing market, following post-pandemic boom in local real-estate, which drove prices significantly higher, along with high mortgage rates, property insurance cost increases, and commonly large special assessments resulting from inspections mandated by state law (that’s since been revised by the state legislature in the most recent session) - commonly led to lower assessments and thus lower total proposed property tax bills for some owners of those properties. That’s a trend that’s carried into and through this year as well, despite a stabilizing property insurance market and a change in state law allowing communities additional flexibility to meet inspection mandates put in place post-the collapse of Champlain Towers South.
It figures to be an interesting next year on the property tax front throughout the state of Florida as we’ll see if the state legislature places a proposed constitutional amendment on our ballots next year reducing or eliminating homesteaded property taxes in addition to the reaction of voters to it.