The Job of the Property Appraiser
The Property Appraiser is responsible for determining the value of all property in the county on the appraisal date of January 1st of
each year. The Property Appraiser works in conjunction with the Florida Department of Revenue to guarantee the accuracy of
your assessment via the Property Tax Oversight Program.
In addition to appraising over 300,000 parcels of real estate and 25,000 business accounts, the property appraiser administers
120,000 homestead exemptions, and must determine property entitled to Agricultural Classification. The Property appraiser and
staff are at the service of the public and will be glad to assist in all matters pertaining to appraisals and exemptions.
For information on what your property appraiser's office does for you please read
our brochure.
Real Property
means land, buildings, fixtures, and all other improvements to land. The terms "land,"
"real estate," "realty," and "real property" may be used interchangeably. Real property
includes all permanent improvements on the land and is broadly classified,
based on land use, as follows:
Single family and multi-family residential,
condominium, cooperatives, townhouses,
time-share developments and mobile homes; Vacant residential and unimproved acreage;
Commercial/Industrial, vacant or improved; and, Agricultural.
For information on real property assessment please read our brochure.
Tangible
Personal Property
means all goods, chattels, and other articles
of value (but does not include the vehicular items enumerated in s. 1(b), Art. VII
of the State Constitution and elsewhere defined) capable of manual possession and
whose chief value is intrinsic to the article itself. "Construction work in progress"
consists of those items of tangible personal property commonly known as fixtures,
machinery, and equipment when in the process of being installed in new or expanded
improvements to real property and whose value is materially enhanced upon connection
or use with a preexisting, taxable, operational system or facility. Construction
work in progress shall be deemed substantially completed when connected with the
preexisting, taxable, operational system or facility. Inventory and "Predominant
use of property" means use of property for exempt purposes in excess of 50 percent
but less than exclusive household goods are expressly excluded from this definition.
For information on Tangible Personal Property assessment please read our brochure.
Mobile Homes
The classification of mobile homes in Florida for tax purposes can be confusing
and greatly misunderstood.
There are three ways that mobile homes are taxed in Florida.
A mobile home will be:
-
Assessed and taxed as real property
-
Subject to an annual license tax, or
-
Assessed and taxed as tangible personal property.
To find out more about mobile home assessment please read our
brochure.
Exemptions
Want to reduce your taxes? Check out our brochure to see if you
qualify for a tax exemption.
Amendment 10
“Save Our Homes" (SOH) was approved by Florida voters in 1992, effective January
1, 1995, and only applies to properties receiving homestead exemption. According
to SOH (also referred to as Amendment 10) a homestead property is assessed at full
market value the first year in which the property receives the exemption. In the
following year, if the property is reassessed, any change from the prior year’s
assessed value is not to exceed the lower of 3% of the assessed value or the percentage
change in the Consumer Price Index. In no instance may the assessment exceed full
market value.
To learn more about Amendment 10 please read our brochure
Mapping
GIS technology integrates common database operations such as query and statistical
analysis with the unique visualization and geographic analysis benefits offered
by maps. Simply put, you are able to really "SEE" your data in a way that not only
makes sense but also allows for creative methods to rearrange the data to reveal
the patterns or trends that are inherent within it. You may have heard the age-old
adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words…”. If this is truly the case, a GIS makes
“an INTELLIGENT picture that’s worth ten thousand words”.
To learn more about GIS please read our brochure