Homeowners laughing at tiny tax cuts
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By JASON SCHULTZ and JIM REEDER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Monday, September 03, 2007
When Palm City resident Sally Curtis heard that state legislators changed property tax laws this year to lower homeowners' tax bills, she envisioned savings hundreds of dollars.
Her tax notice arrived in the mail last week with word she would save $83, barely enough to cover a weekly trip to the grocery store.
"This doesn't amount to a row of beans," Curtis said. "Eighty-three dollars? For a whole year? I was expecting a couple hundred dollars at least, at a minimum."
Her reaction was repeated throughout the Treasure Coast, as Martin and St. Lucie county property appraisers mailed tax notices that finally show the effect this year's property tax cuts will have on residents' annual bill.
Gov. Charlie Crist had promised that tax bills would "drop like a rock," but as Martin County Property Appraiser Laurel Kelly has put it, "it's more like a pebble."
Property taxes vary by location and are based on the taxable value of the home.
In Martin County, the median taxable property value this year is $192,021 - half are valued more, half less. After subtracting the $25,000 homestead exemption, the average bill comes to $2,523, which is a 6.6 percent reduction from last year, according to Kelly's office.
In St. Lucie, the median value is $142,900, and the average savings comes to 6.4 percent.
That means Martin County taxpayers are seeing an average drop of $177. It's $166 in St. Lucie County.
While many are happy to see any reduction at all, others aren't enthused that the amount saved isn't enough for two adults and a child to get into Walt Disney World for a day.
Anthony DeMatteo, who lives in the Savanna Club on U.S. 1 near Port St. Lucie, found out he would save $41 on this year's tax bill. He blames a high taxable value on his manufactured house for the miserly amount and thinks his $83,089 assessed value is too high.
"Places are selling for $69,000 now and were going for $90,000 four years ago," DeMatteo said. "You can't increase the taxable value and lower taxes. If I tried to borrow money on this place, I couldn't get the $127,500 market value they say it's worth."
Even elected officials, many of whom had to grapple with tough decisions about what to cut from their budgets to reduce the tax bills, weren't overjoyed at the numbers.
"I saved $21. I'm so happy with the legislature because I can now afford to buy one more Mountain Dew a month," Martin County Commissioner Lee Weberman said. "We were promised substantial tax relief, and once again it's a promise they didn't deliver."
His colleague Sarah Heard, who saved $215, agreed.
"This is underwhelming, to say the least," Heard said. "The governor and the legislature promised that taxes were going to plummet like a rock."
State Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, saved about $250 on her bill.
"I was personally disappointed," Harrell said. "From what I'm hearing, people aren't seeing much of a reduction."
Some property owners took the meager savings in stride. Michael Jester, who lives in Fisherman's Cove near Stuart, saved $1.64.
"At least they didn't go up," Jester said.
Don Pickard, vice president of the Martin County Taxpayers Association, said part of the problem is that the state did not require school districts to cut their taxes. Pickard saved $79 on his tax bill.
Kelly, Martin County's appraiser, affirmed that an increase in school taxes basically offset the rate reductions county and municipal governments made.
Residents also blamed the lackluster savings on local governments they say still spend too much.
George Lease, who lives in St. Lucie County's Reserve Plantation, wasn't thrilled at all with the 5 percent drop in his tax bill.
"Officials in St. Lucie County spend like drunken sailors," Lease said. "They don't know what's going on and are driving people away with high taxes and insurance."
Martin County Deputy Property Appraiser Mike Fribourg said the office has been swamped with complaints from residents. Most involve the fact that many homesteaded properties' taxable value went up even though their market value declined.
The value of about half of Martin properties went down this year, Fribourg said.
The Save Our Homes constitutional amendment voters passed years ago limits the annual increases in the taxable value of a homesteaded property. If a homeowner has been living on that property for many years, Fribourg said, the home's taxable value will be well below the market value.
Kelly said that even if the market value of a home decreases, its taxable value will increase by the annual maximum, 2.5 percent this year, or until it matches the market value, Kelly said. This offset much of the possible savings for some homeowners.
Lawmaker Harrell said the real savings from the property tax cuts will not be felt this year but in the future. The changes limit how much counties can increase their tax rates each year.
"That is a long-term fix that will take a long time to be totally felt," Harrell said. "Property owners aren't going to see the big run-up in their bills that they have seen in the past."
Martin County has cut its tax rate every year since 2002. Increases in tax bills have resulted from jumps in property value as high as 21 percent.
Harrell said residents also will get the chance to vote on a proposed "super-exemption" in January that will give them far deeper savings. The new exemption would exempt $150,000 of the first $200,000 of a home's value from taxation.
"The real major savings will come with the super-exemptions," Harrell said.
To get the super-exemption, homeowners would have to give up their Save Our Homes protection, which limits the annual increase in taxable value.
At public seminars last month, Fribourg explained to residents that many with homestead exemptions initially would save money under the super-exemption but that those savings would go away after about 10 years.
Some property owners who have lived in their homes for many years would actually start out paying more under the super-exemption, he said.
That's not what homeowners like Daryl Henry, who lives in the Palm Lake Park neighborhood north of Stuart, want to hear.
Henry said all he and his wife want is to move to a smaller house and keep their current homestead exemption.
The legislature considered the "portability" idea but did not pass it.
Despite meager savings on this year's tax bill, Henry probably wouldn't vote for the super-exemption, he said.
"I've given up on tax reform," Henry said. "They're not doing what the people wanted."
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