Number of parcels with homestead exemptions declines year-over-year in unincorporated county and city of Sarasota
The 2026 Sarasota County property value reports that the Property Appraiser’s Office sent to the Florida Department of Revenue, to meet the state’s annual deadline of July 1, show that every local government saw a bit of an increase, compared to the preliminary figures that the Property Appraiser’s Office issued before the June 1 deadline, The Sarasota News Leader has learned.
For Sarasota County itself, the change was an increase of nearly 0.03% from the June 1 figure, resulting in an overall rise in value of about 2.42%, compared to the certified 2025 property value, the new documents show. The July 1 value is $112,690,149,918, while the 2025 certified value was $109,890,797,512.
In response to a News Leader inquiry, the county’s Office of Financial Management noted in a June 30 email that since the July 1 value was slightly higher than the June 1 estimate, the revised figure will result in additional $937,000 for the General Fund.
The General Fund is the primary county repository of the property tax revenue. That fund pays all of the expenses for departments and operations of the county’s constitutional officers — such as the sheriff and the supervisor of elections — that do not generate any revenue or insufficient revenue to cover their own costs.
“Compared to last year,” the OFM continued in the June 30 email, the new property value will result in an increase of $9.9 million to the General Fund, “assuming flat countywide millage.” The County Commission has made it clear during budget workshops this year that it has no plans to raise the operating millage rate. This will be the third year in a row that the board has maintained the same rate.
The revised property value for the City of Sarasota in the July 1 reports is $20,162,667,299, which marks a 3.5% uptick, compared to the 2025 certified value of $19,478,915,844. The June 1 data put the rise at 3.17%.
For the City of Venice, the July 1 figure is $7,733,407,185, which represents an increase of nearly 5%, compared to the 2025 certified value of $7,696,732,661. The preliminary climb in the June 1 data was 0.07%.
The Town of Longboat Key saw its value rise a bit between the June 1 and July 1 reports, as well, coming in at $6,990,440,959 in the latter. Thus, instead of realizing a 1.15% drop in value, compared to the 2025 certified figure of $7,060,449,737, the town’s value declined only about 1%.
For the City of North Port — which, in June, had the highest jump in property value of all of the local government bodies, as it has in recent years — the July 1 reports put its total at $11,471,551,537, compared to the 2025 certified value of $10,851,979,962. The new figure marks an increase of 5.7%. That is only slightly higher than the June 1 jump of 5.68%.
Finally, the total value of the Sarasota County School Board property in the July 1 reports is $118,845,634,794, which is up by approximately 1.4%, compared to the 2025 certified figure of $117,164,990,470. The June 1 data put the year-over-year increase at 1.09%.
Types of parcels
Among other details in the new reports, the total number of parcels in the county was 308,178. That number is up almost 1.06%, compared to the 2025 tally of 304,930, and that marked an approximate climb of 0.9%, compared to the 2024 count of 302,288.
Only 630 of the 2026 parcels were classified as agricultural, the July 1 report says. However, that marks a rise from the 2025 tally of 616.
The number of parcels with homestead exemptions was put at 97,296, which represented a drop of close to 8.1%, compared to the 2025 figure of 105,884, and that was down from the 2024 total of 113,544.
The July 1 reports show the City of Sarasota with a total of 28,233 parcels, which is barely above the 2025 count of 28,228.
Of those city parcels, 9,259 have homestead exemptions, the document shows. That represents a drop of approximately 6.7%, compared to the 2025 tally of 9,916. The 2024 total was 10,675.
Among other data in the July 1 reports, the value of single-family residential dwellings in the unincorporated areas of the county is $79,911,190,900. That marks a decrease of about 2.6%, compared to the 2025 figure of $82,082,133,700.
For multi-family complexes with fewer than 10 units, the value this year is $4,127,166,700, which also is down compared to the 2025 figure. The latter was $4,154,418,200.
However for such complexes with 10 or more units, the value is $3,746,158,000, which represents an increase, compared to the 2025 total of $3,474,358,700.
The July 1 reports’ market value for all condominiums in the county is down, though, by approximately 7.6%, compared to the 2025 number. This year, the total is $23,929,508,500. Last year, it was $25,899,894,100.