Lee County Property Appraiser’s office mails out TRIM notices
The Lee County Property Appraiser’s office mailed out more than 660,000 TRIM notices to property owners that began arriving in mailboxes last weekend.
TRIM (Truth in Millage) notices give property owners a heads-up on what their property tax bills might be for 2016. Information includes the assessed value of the property and the amount they can expect to pay, minus any exemptions. The millage rate is set by city, county, school districts, fire districts and any special assessments ordered by the respective taxing authorities.
The TRIM lists the 2015 tax rate and taxes paid. It also lists the proposed tax rate and estimated tax amount for 2016 if no millage change is adopted by taxing authorities, plus the proposed rate and amount if budget changes are adopted.
Final tax rates are due at the property appraiser’s office by Sept. 15.
“I’m proud of the process we use in Lee County,” said Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson. “It’s so good I have Korean government officials coming here to take a look at how we do things. They want to change the way they do it over there.”
Tax authorities, such as the city of Cape Coral, have until Sept. 15 to hold public hearings to set the final millage rate, which can be reduced but not raised at this point.
Property values overall in Cape Coral rose by 8.37 percent in 2016. City Manager John Szerlag in preparing the Fiscal Year 2017 city budget, factored in a 6 percent increase, so the city stands to receive $1.6 million more in tax revenue that his original estimate.
He also has proposed a millage rate reduction of .207 mils to 6.750 mils for 2017, but some City Council members are pushing to give taxpayers a bigger break and use the rollback rate of 6.5702 mils. The rollback rate is the rate that would generate the same amount of revenue as last year considering increases in property values. New construction is not included in the calculation of the rollback rate.
“The TRIM notice also tells property owners when the taxing authority meets to adopt the final millage rate,” said Wilkinson.
Those who think their assessed value is set too high have 25 days from the time the notices were mailed to petition Wilkinson’s office in person, through the mail or over the phone. That 25-day period ends Tuesday, Sept. 6, this year. Property owners will be paired with the analysts who did the actual assessment work on their property.
“On occasion an owner might have information that we are not privy to and we can make an adjustment,” said Wilkinson. “If they still have a concern the assessment will stay for this year, but they can file a petition to have their case heard by an independent value adjustment board.”
Once the millage rates are finalized with the appraiser’s office, the data is turned over to the Lee County Tax Collector’s office which sends out the tax bills by Nov. 1.
Property owners can take advantage of a 4 percent discount for paying their tax bill in November. Discounts decrease for payments made in December, January and February, but if not paid by the end of March they become delinquent.
“This industry is pretty tech savvy,” said Wilkinson. “In fact, in Lee County we lead the industry with the technology. People pretty much know what their property is worth just by checking it out online or seeing what sales have been like in their neighborhood.”