Property values rise on Beach and elsewhere
Property values in Lee County continue to rise as indicated by the estimated 2015 Tax Roll Values released Friday by Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson.
The appraiser’s preliminary figures for 2015 countywide are higher by 5.5 percent over last year’s final figures.
“For the last two or three years we have seen a positive overall increase in all areas of the county,” said Wilkinson. “We are in a positive market with about 60 percent cash sales. This kind of steady increase will benefit buyers and sellers, but I’m not as concerned as a few years ago when the bubble was not sustainable.”
The appraiser’s office has another month of work to do on the figures before it notifies the individual taxing authorities of the final estimate for 2015.
Fort Myers Beach taxable property values are 5.68 percent higher than last year’s final assessment numbers. Wilkinson expects all preliminary value estimates to increase slightly by the end of June.
“The odds are, barring any errors, the final assessment figure will go up some,” Wilkinson said. “By the end of June we’ll have a better idea that we then send to Tallahassee for approval. Florida is a leader in this kind of stuff. There won’t be a huge increase, so I’m pleased to see it as far as the economy goes.”
Last week, the Fort Myers Beach Town Council approved to adopt the tentative ad valorem operating millage rate at 1.0604 for fiscal year 2015-16 after receiving the estimate of the total assessed value of non-exempt property for the island.
The taxable values in Fort Myers are 7.7 percent higher and on Sanibel they are up 3.31 percent. For Cape Coral the values are up 6.01 percent over last year and 7.34 percent for Bonita Springs. Estero is on the roll as a taxing authority for the first time after voting to become Southwest Florida’s newest city this year.
Wilkinson said the foreclosure rate remains a factor in the local market, but not what it was before the downturn. He said the inventory is being absorbed by the market very well.
“I’m happy to see us get into this upward trend,” said Wilkinson.
At the end of June, Wilkinson’s office will notify the county’s 91 taxing authorities of the final estimates, giving them time to work on their budgets and decide through public hearings on their millage rate requests.
By August, all taxing agencies in the county will have filed their millage rate request with the appraiser’s office, which then calculates and sends out the annual TRIM notices containing the final tax values to all property owners.
After the TRIM notices arrive, property owners then have 25 days to contact the appraiser’s office to appeal their taxable value if they think it is too high.
Tallahassee must approve the 2015 tax roll values, but that’s never been a problem.
“In 35 years every tax roll I’ve sent them has been approved,” said Wilkinson.
Property values started to rise in the county overall two years ago while some communities still saw decreases. Most property in the county increased for 2013 with few exceptions. This year every city, town and taxing district in the county is seeing higher values.
“The last time we had an up market was January 2007 when the market was at its peak,” said Wilkinson.
The Lee County market lost half of its total value between 2007 and 2013 when the market started to turn around.
The annual process is complete when tax bills start arriving in property owners’ mailboxes in November.