Tuesday, July 6, 2010

“Property tax rates rising in Lee County” plus 3 more

“Property tax rates rising in Lee County” plus 3 more

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Property tax rates rising in Lee County

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 02:42 AM PDT

FORT MYERS, Fla- Lee County Homeowners can weight in today on next years property tax rates. Commissioners are holding a special meeting to set the rate after their regular meeting Tuesday morning.

Under consideration is a proposal to raise the property tax rate from $2.65 per $1,000 in value up to $4.31. That would increase the tax bill about $70 for every $100,000 in value. The new rate would take effect October 1st. Homeowners are invited to the special public hearing to offer their opinion. The regular commission meeting gets started at 9:30am.

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Property tax fix on Deltona meeting agenda

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:25 PM PDT

DELTONA -- The City Commission will be talking about rebates again today, but don't confuse this latest idea with the mayor's failed proposal to return unspent tax revenue in $250 checks to residents.

In this case, City Manager Faith Miller is proposing to fix a mistake that affects low-income senior citizens. Last August, commissioners passed an ordinance raising the homestead exemption on property taxes from $25,000 to $50,000 for certain people. The qualifiers are:

· They must be age 65 or older

· They must have an annual income of $20,000 or less

· They must have homes valued at $75,000 or more.

But the city failed to get a copy of the ordinance to the Volusia County Property Appraiser's Office by Dec. 1 -- the statutory deadline for the 2010-11 tax bills that will be mailed Nov. 1. So low-income seniors in Deltona will only be granted the $25,000 exemption on those tax bills.

Miller is asking the commission for permission to issue rebate checks in October to those seniors who would have qualified for the extra tax break. The City Commission will discuss the issue at its meeting at 6:30 tonight at City Hall.

In all, city officials say the rebates will cost no more than $90,000. The amount of the checks to be issued depends on a variety of factors, but Finance Director Robert Clinger, said he believes about 1,100 residents would qualify for rebates that could be in the $125 to $150 range.

Unincorporated Volusia County, Daytona Beach, Pierson and Flagler Beach have also doubled the homestead exemption for low-income seniors in their communities. Volusia Property Appraiser Morgan Gilreath is puzzled as to why more cities haven't followed suit.

"It's laudable for Deltona," Gilreath said.

"This is one of the cases where the Legislature has conferred an exemption for the people who need it most," he said. "These are our parents and grandparents."

Douglas Beach, executive director for the Volusia Council on Aging, also applauded Deltona for "trying to make it right" for older residents whose income is limited.

"Low-income seniors tend to be on a fixed-income budget," Beach said. "We're coming out of a significant recession that has hurt seniors as much, if not more, than the general population. It is our hope to work with cities to help these seniors remain in their homes for as long as possible."

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State waives property tax cap for Roseland budget

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 02:52 AM PDT



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Property Tax Increase Presented to City Council Tomorrow

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 04:29 PM PDT

Tomorrow the city manager's office will present next year's budget. If it passes, your property taxes will go up. The city says it needs the extra money to balance its budget.

"I've never seen it as difficult as it is now," said Angelo Amoriello, owner of Amore Appraisal. Since the value of homes has dropped so low in the last few years, more people are calling him to appraise their homes so they can pay less in property taxes.

"People want to pay their fair share of taxes," he said.

City manager Joyce Wilson is proposing a property tax increase in order to balance the budget. With inflation driving up the cost of police and fire services, as well as other city projects, city leaders say that El Paso needs to make up the cost somewhere.

"They're probably wanting to make up for that shortfall, the different between where the values used to be and where the values are now," he said.

This property tax is going to be about $0.03 extra for every $100 of your property's value so let's do the math. So if your home costs $150,000 dollars, you'll probably end up paying about $999 in property taxes--or an increase of $50 a year.

"You've got to have good salaries if that's what its going for, for good people," said Alicia Arredondo, a taxpayer.

"We've been taxed enough, I think we should be looking at more revenues elsewhere to supplement that tax increase," said another taxpayer named Joseph Chenier, Jr.

If the council doesn't approve the vote, police and fire departments might have to make some serious cuts of their own. Here's what some departments in other cities have had to do:

In Albuquerque, police and fire associations are offering to skip a pay increase. In Austin, they deferred a 2.75% pay increase. Dallas is considering furloughs and a 5% pay reduction. Phoenix is already enforcing furloughs and a 1% pay cut has been proposed. And Tucson has also implemented furloughs.

"I look at it from my own situation," Amoriello said. "I would be willing to pay the taxes as long as I know I'm getting a fair shake at it."

But it's an issue that not everyone's willing to shake on.

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