County’s year-over-year climb goes from 4.67% to about 5.2%, with new record set
Just in time for the Sarasota County Commission’s budget workshops this week, the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s Office submitted documentation to the Florida Department of Revenue on June 25 that showed the year-over-year climb in the county’s total property tax value was about 5.2%.
That was up slightly from the preliminary June estimate of 4.67%, based on materials that Brian Loughrey, chief deputy to Property Appraiser William Furst, provided The Sarasota News Leader this week at its request.
The state had estimated a 6.1% rise from 2019, according to budget workshop materials released last week in advance of the County Commission workshops.
The total property tax value for the county as of June 25 was $65,477,851,841, documents show. That exceeds the $62.7-billion figure for the 2008 fiscal year — the last climb before the Great Recession struck. The 2008 total was the highest ever for the county until this year, according to a county graphic in the budget workshop materials.
Additionally, working from the June 1 preliminary figure provided by the Property Appraiser’s Office, county Office of Financial Management staff had projected that 95% of the property tax revenue for the county would add up to $178.4 million for the 2021 fiscal year budget. Under state law, local governments are not allowed to plan on collections higher than 95% when working on their budgets, county staff has explained.
State law requires that final property tax values be released by July 1, so local government bodies can set their not-to-exceed millage rates. The Truth in Millage (TRIM) notices then are mailed out in August.
The property tax revenue goes into the county’s General Fund, which pays for operations of a number of county departments as well as many of those led by the constitutional officers, such as Sheriff Tom Knight.
Altogether, the June 25 Property Appraiser’s documents show that the county has 287,578 parcels, 850 of which are classified as agricultural, according to the definition provided in Florida Statute 193.461.
The number of parcels with homestead exemptions was 97,983.
For the City of Sarasota, the June 25 property tax value reflected an increase of approximately 4.7% from the 2019 certified figure. The June, preliminary report from Furst’s office had put the uptick at 4.48%.
The June 25 total for the city is $11,770,011,069.
The report noted that the City of Sarasota has 27,578 parcels, with 9,174 covered by a homestead exemption.
For the City of North Port — which has had the highest jumps in property values in recent years — the June 25 total is $5,118,993,766, which represents an 11% increase from the 2019 certified tax value.
That city has 75,782 parcels, the related document says; 17,232 of them have homestead exemptions.
Additionally, the City of North Port has 109 parcels classified as agricultural.
The year-over-year drop for the Town of Longboat Key lessened a bit from the preliminary report, the new materials show. Instead of a 3.63% decline from the 2019 certified property tax value, the figure ended up being about 3%.
The Town of Longboat Key has a total of 6,617 parcels, the related document shows; 1,201 of those have homestead caps.
The certified tax value last year for the town was $4,313,267,448. The June 25 figure is $4,189,967,770.
For the City of Venice, the June 25 property tax value is up almost 6.1% from the certified value in 2019. The total value shown on the latest document is $4,511,939,808.
The City of Venice has 17,708 parcels, of which 5,805 have homestead caps.
Only 37 parcels in Venice are classified as agricultural, the related document notes.
Finally, the June 25 property tax value for the Sarasota County School Board ended up reflecting a year-over-year increase of about 4.5%, compared to the preliminary figure of 3.87%. The total property tax value for the School Board is $69,335,024,270, covering 287,578 parcels, the related document says.
The School Board has 850 parcels classified as agricultural.
The June 25 materials the Property Appraiser’s Office submitted to the state also noted slight changes in the taxable value of new construction in various jurisdictions. For example, the June 1 report put the figure for Sarasota County at $1,675,913,280, while the June 25 amount is $1,690,868,428, an increase of almost 0.9%.
The June 25 taxable value of new construction in the City of Sarasota was $329,452,122, an uptick of about 3.4% compared to the June 1 figure.
For the City of North Port, the June 25 taxable value of new construction is $256,009,988, up slightly more than 1% from the preliminary number.
Among other data in the June 25 report, the taxable value of single-family homes on the tax role for the entire county is $32,734,642,602, while the figure for condominiums is $13,520,380,662.
The total for the 7,802 improved commercial parcels is $7,811,752,055, with the value for 2,285 improved industrial parcels is $1,386,404,881.
The taxable value for the 849 agricultural parcels countywide is $111,145,852.