As property values rise, how high will taxes go?

As property values rise, how high will taxes go? The Broward County Commission is poised to meet Tuesday evening to decide once and for all on a $2 billion budget that takes effect in October. 1. But the big question for some commissioners is whether tax rates will be rolled back so that homeowners won’t be stuck with a much higher bill than last year just because their property values went up. The tax rate determines how much property owners pay to fund county services, including the sheriff’s office, fire-rescue, parks, transportation, and other local expenses. And each year, elected officials must decide if they’ll lower it, increase it or keep it the same amid rising property values. For some homeowners and property owners, it’s all but a foregone conclusion that bills will be higher. During a meeting earlier this month, however, a few residents urged commissioners to provide some tax relief. No one on the County Commission is considering a so-called “rollback”rate that would keep tax revenue neutral. But any rate cut would soften the blow of the expected increase. “My goal is to start bringing the rate down a little bit,” said Commissioner Michael Udine, whose first attempt to push a tax cut through fell short two weeks ago by a 5-3 vote. Udine said he intends to try again Tuesday night. “We paid down all of the bond debt from the parks bond that we’ve been paying over 20 years,” he said.“It’s time to give our property owners some relief.” Homeowners are protected from exorbitant annual increases by the homestead exemption, which caps tax increases to 2.9%regardless of the increase in a home’s property value. Compared to last year, according to the Property Appraiser’s Office, values went up 7.52%. The debate comes in the shadow of the state’s scrutiny of Broward County’s tax and spending practices, among other local governments in the state. Over the summer, the state sent a team from the newly created Department of Government Efficiency to audit the county’s finances, a process that was repeated in several other counties and cities as part of a high-profile push to root out local government waste.  

Local leaders cooperated with the effort and predicted the DOGE team would find no actual cases of corruption or misspending, but some predicted political differences would be exploited, as Gov. Ron DeSantis and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia push to lower property taxes in the long run. But the DOGE team has not given any indication when it will announce its findings, and time is up for the county to pass its next fiscal year’s budget.   

The County Commission’s discussions on Tuesday will have two parts. One meeting starts at 10 a.m. and is expected to last a few hours. The budget will be considered and passed when another meeting begins at 5:01 p.m. at the Broward County Governmental Center at 115 S. Andrews Ave. in Fort Lauderdale.https://enewspaper.sun-sentinel.com/shortcode/SUN315/edition/debf63d4-9f3f-425c-b275-9d65cbf5f4da?page=e6f88381-2af0-42a2-bdb1-3eb629e9282d&