Proposed property taxes explaination

Q. Can you explain the Notice I recently received regarding my proposed property taxes and how the Value Adjustment Board figures into this?

A. That notice you received is called a TRIM notice, and it’s not your tax bill, it’s an informational notice. It states the current assessed value of your property and states the amount of taxes you’ll pay if the budgets for your taxing authorities are adopted without changes. You must understand that all taxpayers may not be taxed by each authority. As an example, I live within the city limits of the City of Apalachicola; therefore, I’ll be paying taxes set by the Board of County Commissioners, the School Board, the City of Apalachicola, and the Northwest Florida Water Management District. The TRIM notice gives you the dates and times of the upcoming public budget hearings set by those taxing authorities which affect you individually.   Mistakenly, many taxpayers assume the Board of County Commissioners is the lone taxing authority, so please look closely at your TRIM notice.

If you wish to discuss the assessed value of your property, you should first contact the Property Appraiser’s Office. The Value Adjustment Board comes into play if you are unable to resolve any issues with your assessed value. You may file a formal petition to be accompanied by the filing fee of $15.00, and the deadline for filing petitions is September 12, 2008 at 4:30 P.M. except for the Alligator Point Water District, and that deadline is September 15, 2008 at 4:30 P.M.   Franklin County’s Value Adjustment Board has elected to appoint a Special Magistrate to hear each petition filed and make a recommendation. The laws pertaining to the Value Adjustment Board were changed during the last session of Legislature. Since the Clerk of Court also acts as Clerk to the Value Adjustment Board, this office has responsibilities outlined in the law which include, but are not limited to, recording the proceedings of the Board and preparing notices and publications.

If you have questions or comments about this blog, please forward them to: Marcia Johnson, Clerk of the Court, 33 Market St., Ste. 203, Apalachicola, Florida, 32320, or by email to: mmjohnson@franklinclerk.com.