MARTIN COUNTY — The typical long-time Martin County homeowner would pay $94 more in county property taxes in 2010 under a budget proposal released Wednesday.

Acting County Administrator Tary Kryzda proposed setting the property tax rate at $7.98 per $1,000 of assessed value for the budget year starting Oct. 1.

That represents an increase of 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, or about 10 percent, compared to this year.

However, the county would still collect $141 million in property taxes in 2010, the same as this year, because the overall value of the county’s real estate declined by 10 percent, Kryzda said.

If the County Commission approves the budget proposal, the owner of a home with an assessed value of $175,000, taking into account the $50,000 homestead exemption, would pay $997 in county property taxes. That doesn’t include the property taxes for schools, children’s services and water management, among others.

Kryzda proposed a $345.6 million budget for 2010, a decrease of $17.8 million or nearly 10 percent from this year.

The County Commission is set to discuss the 1 1/2-inch thick budget document during workshops starting on July 27.

No county employees will get a raise in the upcoming year, including the fire-rescue workers who are expected to give up a 5 percent raise that’s part of their contract, Kryzda said. The anticipated concession by the fire rescue workers union will save the county $1.2 million.

The one-day-per-month furlough program will continue throughout 2010 for more than 500 county workers, saving more than $1 million, Kryzda said. But the county’s 300 fire-rescue workers will remain exempt so the county does not incur more overtime costs.

Martin County will go forward with the construction of the southern leg of the Green River Parkway and the ground work for the Indian Street Bridge because the money for the projects has already been allocated, Kryzda said.

But the construction of new roads, such as the Willoughby Boulevard extension, and new buildings, such as the Ridgeway Fire-Rescue Station, is being delayed because of declines in revenue from a variety of sources, Kryzda said. Spending on capital improvements is down more than $6 million.

And county revenues such as sales tax and the gas tax appear to have leveled off after declining for several months, Kryzda said.

In a related matter, Property Appraiser Laurel Kelly said she will release the updated tax roll next week because the state Department of Revenue granted her an extension to deal with computer programming issues.

MARTIN COUNTY BUDGET COMPARISON

2000: $293.3 million

2001: $304.9 million

2002: $374 million

2003: $375.5 million

2004: $391.5 million

2005: $356 million

2006: $392 million

2007: $411.2 million

2008: $395 million

2009: $363.4 million

2010: $345.6 million

MARTIN COUNTY PROPERTY TAX RATE COMPARISON

2000: $8.41 per $1,000 of assessed value

2001: $8.55 per $1,000 of assessed value

2002: $8.43 per $1,000 of assessed value

2003: $8.43 per $1,000 of assessed value

2004: $8.42 per $1,000 of assessed value

2005: $8.17 per $1,000 of assessed value

2006: $7.85 per $1,000 of assessed value

2007: $7.52 per $1,000 of assessed value

2008: $6.83 per $1,000 of assessed value

2009: $7.23 per $1,000 of assessed value

2010: $7.98 per $1,000 of assessed value

PROPERTY TAX BILL FOR TYPICAL MARTIN COUNTY HOMEOWNER

Under proposed property tax rate

Median assessed value of single family home: $175,000

Minus $50,000 homestead exemption: $125,000

Times proposed property tax rate: $7.9807 per $1,000 of assessed value

Equals property tax bill of: $997.59

Under current property tax rate

Median assessed value of single family home: $175,000

Minus $50,000 homestead exemption: $125,000

Times current property tax rate: $7.2279 per $1,000 of assessed value

Equals property tax bill of: $903.49

Difference: $94.10
George Andreassi, TCPalm.com

Tags: budget, contract, furlough, money, overtime, property, raises, roads, taxes, value

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 10:11 am and is filed under Economy, Martin County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.