Beach property values drop along with other Lee County towns and cities
Lee County property values dropped 15.3 percent, according to estimated numbers released on Tuesday by property appraiser Ken Wilkinson.
Although the 2011 numbers are less dramatic than 2010 when values decreased more than 25 percent, Wilkinson said that between 2007 and now Lee County lost 55 percent of its overall values.
“It was a $125 billion plus in 2007 … three years later there’s a 55 percent overall loss of value,” Wilkinson said.
Fort Myers Beach’s property values fell 12.68 percent, ranking it fourth in terms of descent among the top five cities/towns in the county.
Fort Myers’ property values saw the highest reduction in Lee County with a 17.78 percent drop, followed by Cape Coral, which fell 16.28 percent; Bonita Springs, with 15.47 percent; the Beach; and Sanibel, which recorded a 7.43 reduction is total taxable value.
Wilkinson said he was somewhat surprised that Fort Myers’ values fell further than Cape Coral.
He said it was probably due to commercial real estate.
“The commercial took a big hit, but commercial is a higher percentage of their total tax roll,” Wilkinson said.
Property valuations are due to Tallahassee by July 1. Those numbers, which may be slightly higher or lower than the preliminary estimates, then are used by local governments to estimate property tax revenue.
Wilkinson said individual notices are due to homeowners in August, and homeowners will then have 25 days to appeal their values to Wilkinson’s office.
Wilkinson added that while residential property sales have increased, commercial property remains largely stagnant.
He said the overall loss of value county wide was unprecedented.
“I’ve been here 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Wilkinson said.
In a Tuesday press release, Cape Coral City Manager Carl Schwing said that at the current millage rate of 7.9702, the budgeted ad valorem receipts will constitute approximately $13.1 million less than in fiscal year 2010.