Property Taxpayers get assessment break
Aug 22, 2007
Property appraisers in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties have won a battle with the state to keep assessments as low as possible. The state Department of Revenue certified the tax rolls for the two counties Tuesday. They were the last counties in the state to be approved. "We worked hard to get a good deal for our taxpayers," said Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser Greg Brown. "We stood in the gap to do it." On average, property assessments in Santa Rosa and Escambia are set 20 percent below market value — 5 percent lower than last year. But that doesn't mean an across-the-board 5 percent cut for every taxpayer. "The majority of the properties in Escambia County should see a decrease in their assessments," said Escambia County Property Appraiser Chris Jones. "Not every property got 5 percent. Some may have gotten more than 5 percent. That's just an average." State approval of the tax rolls means counties can now send out their property tax notices. That's about two or three weeks later than usual, but everything should be on track for taxpayers to begin paying their taxes in November, as usual. The state had declined to certify both counties' tax rolls because the property appraisers for both counties had set assessments at 20 percent below market value. State rules say appraisers can't set values at anything more than 15 percent below what the market will bear. Brown and Jones resubmitted their tax rolls, which were approved Tuesday. "I didn't change anybody's assessment," Brown said. "We looked at some of the sales we had qualified (as market value sales) that didn't meet qualification. We unqualified them and that made our percentages work out." Brown argued that some sales data didn't accurately reflect the market. "We looked at what were considered market sales, and some of them were sales to developers," Brown said. "Some builders are offering to upgrade. They're not changing the sale price, but they're offering concessions. We felt like (that practice) was greater than it was in previous years." Jones said reading the market is part of an appraiser's job. "It's important every year to get the values right and reflect what the market tells us," he said. "There's no doubt in my mind that this market has been suffering over the last year, as is evidenced by the number of units we had on the market. We have some 7,400 units on the market right now. Normal inventory is about 2,300 or 2,400." Ed Fortune, a spokesman for Santa Rosa Taxpayers Inc. and president of the Santa Rosa Taxpayers Foundation, welcomed the news. "I'm very pleased that the state accepted the tax rolls," he said. "I was concerned they weren't going to do that. Taxes are already too high. We just want it to be fair."
Back