Tax rate slashed: Rising property values allow 4.6 percent rate cut
Palm Beach County Commission cuts $59 million from administration's proposed budget; most homesteaded properties will pay less.
Buoyed by a 14 percent increase in property values, Palm Beach County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to reduce the county tax rate to $4.50 from $4.71.
Why it matters: The county tax for most homeowners with a homestead exemption will go down, since homestead valuations are capped at 3 percent and the tax rate is dropping by 4.67 percent. The cap covers 56 percent of property owners.
For landlords, seasonal homeowners and businesses, values can rise by 10 percent. So despite the tax rate cut, they likely will pay more in taxes.
To raise no more money this year than last year, the county needed to lower the rate to $4.21 per $1,000 of taxable value.
Pressed by County Commissioner Maria Marino at a June workshop, County Administrator Verdenia Baker came back with a $4.55 tax rate that would mean cutting $45 million out of the county’s $2.1 billion general fund. Most of that would come from reserves.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office accounts for $877 million of the $2.1 billion. Reserves amount to $378 million.
Marino insisted on a $4.50 tax rate and quickly won the backing of Commissioner Mack Bernard during the hour-long discussion that resulted in a unanimous vote. That would amount to a $21.50 savings for taxpayers for every $100,000 in taxable value of their property.
What’s next? Baker said she will come back with a plan to cut another $14 million. She could take more from reserves but said they are important for preparing the county for a recession or natural disasters. Another option is to cut unfilled positions across all county departments and offices.
Flashback: Last year, commissioners sliced the tax rate by 1 percent — from $4.78 per $1,000 of taxable value to $4.71.
Driving the news: In a workshop last month, Baker made the case to renew the current tax rate.
Under the current rate, the owner of a homesteaded home with the county median assessed value of $188,000 would pay county property taxes of $677, up from $625 this year.
Baker’s initial plan would have provided:
6% pay increases for county employees.
23 new hires.
$42.9 million increase in the sheriff’s budget.
“If we stay the same at $4.71, taxes are going up,” Marino said at the June 13 budget workshop.
Of note: The county tax is one part of the property tax homeowners pay. Schools and city taxes are two other major components of most tax bills.
What’s next: Public hearings on the county’s final tax rate are at 5:05 pm Thursday, Sept. 7, and 5:05 pm Tuesday, Sept. 26. The budget year begins Oct. 1.
📈 Rising tide of property values
Contributing to the cuts: Property values determined by Appraiser Dorothy Jacks went up by double digits for the second straight year.
Seven cities in Palm Beach County are valued at more than $10 billion in the July assessment roll.
They are: Boca Raton, $34.7 billion; Palm Beach, $29 billion; West Palm Beach, $21.1 billion; Palm Beach Gardens, $17.9 billion; Delray Beach, $16.3 billion; Jupiter, $15.8 billion; and Wellington, $11.5 billion.
Boynton Beach is next. It just topped $9 billion.
Those eight cities account for three-fourths of the total property value ($155 billion out of $201 billion) of all 39 municipalities in Palm Beach County combined.
The Palm Beach County School District, which has fewer exemptions — thus more value — than other countywide taxing bodies, has grown its tax base by more than 50 percent since 2020. That’s a whopping $111 billion added, bringing it to $332 billion.
Last but not least: A shout out to our two smallest cities, Glen Ridge and Cloud Lake. The tiny enclaves near Palm Beach International Airport may not have 400 residents combined, but their values have gone up more than 60 percent since 2020, the most of any cities except Westlake, which is going up crazy high percentages because it's basically still under construction.