Area property values continue to rise
Over the past month, Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson’s staff found another 1 to 2 percent of increased value in Lee County property that can be tapped by the county’s 91 taxing authorities for the Fiscal Year 2016 budget cycle.
“It’s not a surprise to me,” Wilkinson said of the final estimated tax roll values revealed last week. “I know how much the tax authorities use the numbers for their budgets. I always try to be conservative so I’m sure they are all happy.”
Property values countywide, Wilkinson estimates, for the 2015 tax bill are higher by 7.56 percent over 2014. That figure is 2 percent higher than his preliminary estimate revealed a month ago.
Wilkinson’s final 2015 estimate of property value increase for Fort Myers Beach now is 8.24 percent, or an additional 2.56 percent increase.
FMB Town Manager Don Stilwell was cautious about the preliminary increase of 5.68 percent for his municipality a month ago, and anticipated Wilkinson’s conservative approach and adjustments.
“We didn’t bank on that, but we are not surprised by it,” Stilwell said.
Town officials have a lot of challenges this upcoming budget year, with road construction, water utility, and stormwater projects looming.
“Right now, the Town is absorbing the cost in trying to take care of stormwater. We don’t have any leeway there, and that’s going to cost money,” Stilwell said. “We are caught in a hard position, and we have to peck at it as we have been. We will need to go to Council to see what they want to do.”
Even with in increase in tax values, it is still a nominal amount of additional dollars for the Town coffers, says Stilwell, though he says he is not complaining and is happy with the turn in the market.
“I’m pleased we have this all going in a positive way, but we have a very tight budget,” he said. “The challenge we have at the Beach is we receive this big tax bill. But, if you look at the amount the Town receives, it is not much. The increase doesn’t have a real impact to us. And, the cost of business has gone up.”
Wilkinson now sends the 2015 final tax assessment figures to Tallahassee for approval. He expects to be notified of that approval before August.
“I’ve never had an assessment refused,” he said. “They will run their own statistical analysis and even physically go out to a number of parcels for their own audit.”
Taxing authorities have until August to file their millage rate request with the appraiser’s office which then calculates the rate and sends out the annual TRIM notices to property owners detailing their final tax values. Property owners then have 25 days to contact the appraiser’s office to appeal their value if they think it is too high.
“Once the taxing authorities give us their mil rate request (August), they can not raise it,” said Wilkinson. “They can go lower or use the rollback rate to raise the same money as the previous year.”
Around the county, Fort Myers shows a property value increase of 9.47 percent, Cape Coral values now stands at 7.75 percent while Sanibel’s values are up 4.98 percent. Bonita Springs has the highest increase at 9.71 percent, which is 1.47 percent higher than Beach property.
“Bonita Springs is no surprise,” said Wilkinson. “Their growth has been all high-end property.”
Even the county’s 17 fire district taxing authorities show positive increases. Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District increases 7 percent, Bonita Springs Fire District is up 9.03 percent, Matlacha-Pine Island increases 5.77 percent and North Fort Myers is up by 5.01 percent. Upper Captiva Fire District can tap into a value increase of 6.73 percent with Captiva coming in at 5.83 and Sanibel at 4.75 percent.
Property values started to rise in the county three years ago with a few communities still seeing decreases. Most property in the county increased for 2013 with few exceptions. Starting in 2014, every city, town and taxing district in the county enjoyed 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. Taxpayers then have four months to pay their bill with a discount.
-Bob Petcher contributed to this report