2009 Taxable Values Decline
Issued June 30, 2009

PRESS RELEASE

Property Appraiser Jim Ford has submitted the 2009 Preliminary Tax Roll to the Florida Department of Revenue. Brevard County’s real estate market continued to show declining property values during 2008. Unlike the 2008 tax roll which was greatly affected by the Amendment One changes, 2009’s reduction is mostly attributable to the declining real estate market.

Ford said, “The impact on specific property groups such as single-family, multi-family or commercial and industrial properties is illustrated on the attached chart relative to last year’s value and includes both market and taxable value. Taxing authorities will again this year have difficult decisions regarding their tax rates to maintain anywhere near the same revenue levels as last year.”

Compounding the issue of a reduction in real estate values this year, is also the dramatic decline in the value of new construction and the corresponding revenue available to the taxing authorities. New construction taxable values hit their highest level in 2007 when they exceeded $1.8 billion added to the tax rolls. New construction taxable values have declined to $444 million this year, the lowest since 1999.

The City of Palm Bay again has the largest decline in taxable value, falling from $5.04 billion reflected in the 2008 tax-roll to $4.08 billion for 2009, a 20.56% decline when you exclude new construction figures. Brevard County’s General Fund taxable value decreased from $38.05 billion in 2008 to $33.48 billion for 2009, constituting a reduction of 13.18% when you exclude new construction figures. Taxable value is the final value upon which tax rates can be applied.

Of all the cities, the Town of Melbourne Beach experienced the least decline with only a 6.92% decrease in taxable value.

The county wide market value is $59.2 billion for 2009, down from $68.5 billion in 2008, a drop of $9.3 billion

Jim Ford, CFA
Brevard County Property Appraiser