Property Taxes Expected to Decrease
As real estate market values fall, tax increases should decline also. In Volusia County, the largest decreases will be on non-homesteaded property. Last year, homestead owners saw lower tax bills, and this year 95% of nonhomesteaders should be affected.
A state rule passed in 1995 requires assessed property values to grow by 3 percent or by the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less, as long as the property’s market value doesn’t dip below the assessed value. That means even homeowners whose property’s market value dropped over the past year might see lower savings or even a slight increase in their taxes, especially true for valuable homes.
Kurt Wenner, director of tax research for Florida TaxWatch, a nonprofit research foundation, explained, "Snowbirds are probably going to see a reduction in their taxes, or at least are not going to grow at the rate they’ve been. This could be the first year where people under Save Our Homes taxes go up, and people with non-homestead properties go down.”