Florida Tax: Keys property values plummet

29 May 2010 By RYAN McCARTHY -- It's looking like Keys lawmakers will strap their belts on even tighter next fiscal year.

Karl Borglum, assistant Monroe County property appraiser, says preliminary figures indicate countywide property values will drop an average of 14 percent in the coming year. That's after a 16 percent decline in the current budget year.

Budget season ramps up during the summer and typically ends with final budget adoptions in early September. Borglum mailed his estimates of the tax rolls to all taxing authorities Monday.

"We have to actually submit a roll by July 1 to the Department of Revenue. This is so they have an idea where they're going for budgeting purposes," Borglum said.

The overall taxable value of land in Monroe County is expected to drop to $19.656 billion next fiscal year compared with $22.324 billion in the current year. The falls are similar throughout the county:

- Key West will drop from $5.763 billion to $5.018 billion.
- Islamorada will fall from $3.020 billion to $2.681 billion.
- Key Colony Beach reduces from $633.2 million to $561.1 million.

As for any chances the numbers might come out differently come July, Borglum says they tend to be very accurate. That means tough decisions for Keys governments in the near future.

In Marathon, those discussions began Tuesday during a regular City Council meeting. Finance Director Peter Rosasco said he expected property values to decline, but said he's still pleased with the preliminary report.

Final 2009 tax rolls valued Marathon taxable land at $2.242 billion, while 2010 estimates show a value of $2.011 billion. That's a difference of $230 million, or 10.28 percent.

"I'm actually relieved. This was a number we can work with," Rosasco said. "Our initial direction to the department heads will probably be to find a way to get 10 percent out of their budgets."

Rosasco said tax-rate caps put in place by the state Legislature have handicapped governments in recent years.

"That started a serious restriction on local governments in terms of raising money via ad valorem taxes and other revenues, the formula that was put in place that essentially froze municipal governments' ability to raise taxes," he said. "We were able to get through that without raising taxes or decreasing services."

But that can't last forever, Rosasco says.

"There's a certain point where you hit a wall. I don't think we're there yet," he said. "If we were looking at 20 percent, I would be worried about reducing services. We've had a luxury of having some surpluses we used the last couple years, but I don't know that we'll be able to do that this year."

That's where City Manager Roger Hernstadt comes in. He says Marathon will institute an "austerity program" to eliminate certain types of expenditures from the budget. That will include travel not pertaining to training or certification, among other things.

"We're going to do a top-to-bottom scrub of the budget," he said.