INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River County School Board has set its tentative property tax rate and budget for two public hearings, and though the tax rate is lower than last year’s, with an increase in property values, homeowners can expect to pay more.
Assistant Finance Director Carter Morrison explained that the state’s required local effort portion of the millage rate was lowered, dropping the overall proposed millage rate to 7.995 mills. However, property values increased on average by 4.65 percent throughout the county.
Due to legislation meant to clear the issue of what constitutes a tax increase or decrease, the School Board is required to report the proposed tax rate as an increase because the rate is higher than a tax rate that would have collected the same revenue as last year – what is often referred to as the “roll back” rate.
Morrison used the following example to explain the difference property owners could expect to see on their tax bills:
A residential home with an assessed value of $200,000 with a $25,000 homestead exemption in 2013 would have a taxable value of $175,000.
Fast-forward to 2014 with a 4.65 percent increase in property values, the house would have an assessed value of $209,300 with a $25,000 homestead exemption, bringing the taxable value to $184,300.
Given last year’s tax rate, the homeowner in 2013 would have paid $1,420.30 in School District taxes. Under the proposed tax rate for this year, the homeowner would pay $1,473.48 – an increase of $53.18.
Along with the proposed tax rate, Morrison presented the proposed budget, which is nearly $5.5 million less than last year.
The proposed 2014-15 budget comes in at just over $269.9 million, down from the 2013-14 budget of almost $275.4 million.
The first public hearing on the tentative millage rate and budget will be held at 5:01 p.m. Thursday July 31 in the School Board board room.
The second hearing will be held at 5:01 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 9, also in the board room.
The School Board meets in the School District Administration Building, located at 1990 25th St., Vero Beach.