Tracing the true tax increases in Palmetto Bay since Dec 2018. Property taxes 101. How “pennies a day” actually equals a $138.40 increased tax bill for a $400,000 tax value home.

SPOILER ALERT: The proposed tax increases are far from “pennies a day” promised by certain Palmetto Bay officials. They add up. And please note that this post is limited to Palmetto Bay portion of your property tax bill. There will be additional posts regarding your other Palmetto bay taxes that are not included on your property tax bill. Other Palmetto Bay taxes include Stormwater, FPL Franchise Fee and park user fees (all of which have been increased since December 5, 2018).

Property taxes go up in several ways. The most obvious way is through increasing the property tax rate.

The starting point for this analysis is 2019 when Palmetto Bay assessed a property tax rate of 2.2000. The proposed for this coming tax year is 2.400. Note that the rate was raised to 2.235 for last year (2020).

2.4000 for 2021 proposed
2.2350 assessed for 2020
2.2000 was the rate in 2019 (starting point)

I see a trend here - a trend for increased taxing and spending.

The second way property taxes go up is assessing the same tax rate against a property that has appreciated in value.  The average property in Palmetto Bay appreciated in value by over 4% for this current year. However, a homeowner cannot be taxed on more than 3% (0r the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower) in any single tax year (see note at end of the post for additional explanation).

Doing the math: Taxes for a home with a $400,000 taxable value tracked since 2019*, taking both the appreciation in value (3% value) and the property tax rate applied for that year:

2019      $400,000 at 2.2000 (2019 rate) =  $    880.00 (Palmetto Bay only)  Starting point
2020      $412,000 at 2.2350 (2020 rate)=   $    920.82 (Palmetto Bay only)  $40.82 increase
2021      $424,360 at 2.4000 (Proposed)=   $ 1,018.46 (Palmetto Bay only)  $97.64 proposed increase**

Note 1 * - I have calculated only the Palmetto Bay portion of the tax bill. Other property taxes include Countywide, School Board, SFWMD, Library and Fire District (and others).

The result**: consecutive years of tax increases for Palmetto Bay homeowners result in a $97.64 for this year, but actually represents an increase of $138.46 tax increases based upon increased values and rates (Palmetto Bay taxes only) for a homeowner who owned a home with a value of $400,000 in 2019.

Pennies a day? Hardly. The documented taxes increases discussed here are limited to the Palmetto Bay portion of your property taxes. I will post on those less obvious fees (taxes) in a subsequent post.

All these taxes. They all add up. $138.00. That's 13,800 pennies - about 276 rolls of pennies. 

Upcoming post: We will take a serious look at how many pennies a day are required for the non-property taxes raised (and created) in Palmetto Bay since December 5, 2018.

NOTE: Homeowners are protected by the Amendment 10 to the Florida Constitution, otherwise known as Save Our Homes Amendment (SOH) which limits annual increases in property taxes that are based upon increased value.  Amendment 10 is a benefit of the homestead exemption that provides homeowners protection by limiting the maximum that the assessed value of their home for tax purposes can be raised to 3%, or the CPI whichever is lower (with some exceptions). Voters approved this amendment to the Florida Constitution, which was effective January 1, 1995.