SoFla property values higher than estimated

Many cities will have more money to spend

Most cities in PalmBeach and Miami-Dade counties will have more taxpayer money to spend — without raising the tax rate — than they thought they’d have just a month ago.

New property value estimates dated Sunday from each county’s Property Appraser’s Office are higher than the preliminary values announced June 1. Only Broward County’s values dropped slightly from the June numbers, and many of its cities still saw positive increases.

The changes in Palm Beach County would mean an extra $342,000 in money from taxpayers for Delray Beach, $310,000 more for Boca Raton and another $138,000 for Boynton Beach.

Officials in the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office said their earlier numbers did not include increased values for railroad track property, which are set by the state. Those numbers are now included, and other “last minute” adjustments were made, said Dino Maniotis, who is the office’s tax roll coordinator.

“We give them an estimate. Now we’ve finetuned the roll,” Maniotis said.

Total taxable value in Palm Beach County is now at $187.8 billion. That’s $611 million more than was reported earlier, for a 6.5 percent increase from last year, including new construction. It had been 6.2 percent based on the June 1 figures.

Miami-Dade’s taxable values are now at $290.1 billion, $1.2 billion more than the preliminary value. Total values increased 6.5 percent from 2017. A 6 percent increase had been estimated on June 1.

Miami-Dade had not finished its value calculations for FPL property and distribution lines by June 1, said Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Lazaro Solis. It also sent out about 18,000 homestead denials on July 1, putting more value back onto the tax rolls, he said.

“It’s a big tax roll with a lot of moving parts,” Solis said.

So how did Broward County, where there was an overall $34 million value decrease from the June 1 estimates, come so much closer? The county’s taxable value is now at $189.5 billion, with the percent increase from last year remaining at 7.7 percent.

Most of the drop could be attributed to an $85 million Hillsboro Beach home that came on the tax rolls this year.

After the June 1 estimates came out, officials learned the home is eligible for a homestead exemption because the previous home on the property was destroyed by Hurricane Wilma. That dropped its taxable value by $22.5 million.

Holly Cimino, the office’s director of finance, budget and tax roll, said Broward’s deadlines are designed to get the most accurate information by June 1 to the cities preparing their annual budgets.

“We’re normally this close,” Cimino said.