INDIAN RIVER COUNTY – The flagging economy and depressed real estate market mean Indian River County will collect less property tax revenues this year, unless government officials raise taxes.
Property Appraiser David Nolte told commissioners Tuesday that the county’s total tax roll value is down 20 percent from last year and that the taxable values on property are down approximately 9 percent.
“I don’t know if it’s good news or bad news,” Nolte said, but the decrease is in line with other similarly sized counties in the state.
Nolte estimated that the county’s tax roll this year would be $14.2 billion. The amount is down from $15.9 billion in 2009.
Nolte told commissioners that the numbers he was presenting Tuesday were merely estimates and that he would have preliminary figures and scenarios by the end of the month.
Commissioner Gary Wheeler told his fellow board members that they should work toward not raising taxes at a time when everyone is hurting.
Instead, they should work to cut the county’s budget.
To that end, Nolte told commissioners that his staff has proposed ways for the Property Appraiser’s Office to cut its budget by 8.7 percent.
Such cuts include limiting travel to only those meetings or conferences the state mandates, discontinuing the $30/monthly cell phone allowance to staff, and no longer offering mileage reimbursement for work-related travel within the county.
Also, Nolte said he has cut his staff by four employees – two of whom took early retirement.
“All four of these people will be sorely missed,” Nolte said.
His proposed budget currently stands at $2.98 million – most of which is personnel related.
According to Nolte’s estimates, property values are down countywide, not just in the unincorporated areas and all but one municipality can expect their tax bases to shrink.
Indian River Shores’ tax base held steady to last year’s rate of $2.5 billion.
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Municipal Tax Base Estimates at a Glance
Fellsmere: 20% down – from $143.5M to $114M
Sebastian: 15.2% down – from $1.16B to $983M
Orchid: 11% down – from $515.5M to $458M
Vero Beach: 8% down – from $2.5B to $2.3B