Trim Notice Changes For 2007

Trim Notice Changes For 2007
Issued July 26, 2007

PRESS RELEASE

Brevard County Property Appraiser Jim Ford has requested and received approval from the Florida Department of Revenue to change the format of the annual Notice of Proposed Taxes (TRIM NOTICE). These notices must be mailed by Ford on behalf of all the taxing authorities and he felt the format could be improved to make the form more easily understood. The comparison of the format change is illustrated on the attached.

The form previously had the column for "taxes if no budget changes are made" to the far right. This was essentially out of order according to Ford who said that column should appear immediately to the right of and next to the column "property taxes last year". Ford said that by comparing property taxes paid last year beside the new year's taxes if no budget change is made, allows an easier comparison for the taxpayer to assess the true tax effect of any reassessment of the property value by his office. In 2006, even though the assessed value of a property increased by $175,000 the taxes would have decreased by $69.43 if no budget change had been made (see attached example).

The third column, to the right would indicate "taxes if the proposed budget change is made." This would allow for a clearer picture of the effect of increased spending and budget by the taxing authorities.

The reassessment on the attached example property, increased from $875,000 to $1,050,000. The second column under the new format makes it easy to see that, even though the assessed value increased $175,000, the taxes would have decreased if no budget change was made. Furthermore, it clearly indicates that the budget change of the taxing authorities is the cause of the tax increase from $15,533.13 to $16,619.11.

Ford said he hopes to clarify how the Property Appraiser's valuations usually play a minor, if any role, in the increased taxes being levied.

Jim Ford, CFA
Brevard County Property Appraiser