The release of preliminary tax rolls by the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office on June 28 has local governments fine-tuning their individual budgets in time to adopt and submit their Truth in Millage (TRIM) rates to the county by the July 28 deadline.
Most of the numbers changed only minimally from the property appraiser’s preliminary tax estimates released May 2.
Palm Beach County had a 7.34 percent growth in assessment value to almost $177 billion.
The Palm Beach County Commission will consider setting a tax rate of 4.7815 mills at its July 11 workshop meeting at 9:30 a.m., the same rate as last year but higher than the rollback rate of 4.5421, which means the county will take in additional revenue next year due to the higher property values.
The proposed 4.7815 millage rate would result in collection of $845,592,790 in property taxes — $42.3 million more than the rollback rate.
Wellington’s property value rose 7.7 percent to $8.03 billion. The Wellington Village Council will hold a workshop meeting on Tuesday, July 11 at 7 p.m. to consider a tax rate of 2.43 mills, which is 0.01 mills lower than the current year.
Wellington’s total proposed fiscal year 2017-18 budget is $110.4 million, compared with $89.5 million in the current fiscal year. The $20.8 million increase is primarily due to multi-year capital improvement projects, according to Wellington Director of Administrative & Financial Services Tanya Quickel.
Royal Palm Beach had its value assessment rise 7.8 percent to $2.70 billion. It is anticipated that the village will maintain its current tax rate of 1.92 mills.
The Town of Loxahatchee Groves’ total taxable value rose 15.87 percent to $294.4 million, which is slightly higher than the May 2 preliminary estimate. It is among the highest growth rates in the county. The town has adopted the same tax rate of 1.4718 mills for the past two years. The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council’s next meeting will be Tuesday, July 18.
The Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District Board of Supervisors, meanwhile, will meet Monday, July 24 to certify its TRIM assessment rates.
The Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors adopted its proposed TRIM rate assessment on Tuesday, June 27 in order to pass the document on to its new management company, Special District Services, which has committed to presenting a final budget and TRIM assessment rate in time for the July 28 deadline.
ITID’s total proposed budget for 2017-18 is $13,494,675, compared with $13,162,059 in 2016-17. The proposed budget includes an average 8.05 percent assessment increase, or $42.44, to $594.60 for activated units and a 7.71 percent increase, or $36.87, to $535.07 for all units.
The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office submitted the 2017 preliminary tax roll to the Florida Department of Revenue and the taxing authorities. The total parcel count is 636,514, with 332,448 homestead exemptions. The values were based upon market conditions as of Jan. 1, 2017 and reflect the average 7.34 percent growth.
“The healthy nature of the increase is partially due to new construction growth in residential high-end condominium properties and commercial and industrial development,” Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Dorothy Jacks said.
The preliminary tax roll is the first of three certifications of value required by law from the Property Appraiser’s Office. A certification occurs in October prior to the mailing of the Nov. 1 tax bills, with a final certification after all Value Adjustment Board actions are finalized.
