South Florida Water Management District plans to roll back tax rate
Your property taxes could drop a few bucks next year.
For the eighth consecutive year, the South Florida Water Management District board approved a proposal Thursday to cut the agency's property tax rate for the fiscal year that starts in October.
The board will make a final decision on the tax rate in September, after public hearings on the proposal in September.
This year a homeowner in most of the district's 16 counties, including Martin and St. Lucie, with a house assessed at $150,000 and a $50,000 homestead exemption, paid $31 in property taxes to the district.
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Under the proposed tax rate, that homeowner would pay $29.36 for fiscal year 2018-19, a reduction of $1.64 or about 5.3 percent.
Homeowners may pay more taxes next year, though, if their property has been reappraised at a higher value.
District staff calls the cut a "rollback," meaning the lower tax rate is expected to generate the same amount of revenue as last year because of increased property values and new construction.
A TCPalm investigation last year found the biggest savers are the district's biggest property owners. A similar tax cut the board approved in 2015 saved a combined $2.1 million for 15 companies: seven hotels, three utilities, two tourist attractions, two retail stores and one sugar producer. Florida Power & Light Co. saved the most: $531,550.
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The property tax revenue collected, along with state and federal funding, will fund the district's estimated $809 million budget.
Board member James Moran of Palm Beach County voted against the rollback, saying the district is "broke" and needs the extra money that would have been raised by keeping the higher tax rate for its reserve fund.
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