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For thousands in tax savings, walk down the block

The Save Our Homes property tax cap can mean wide disparities in tax bills from house to house.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published March 31, 2006

Because of the Save Our Homes property tax cap law, virtually identical homes, even neighboring ones, carry vastly different tax bills.

People who have lived in their homes a long time generally pay significantly less than recent buyers.

Similarly, residents of newer neighborhoods, on average, pay taxes on a larger percentage of their homes' value than do those who live in established neighborhoods.

The New Tampa area consistently has some of the highest averages in Hillsborough County, including Cory Lake Isles, Arbor Greene and West Meadows.

South and Central Tampa neighborhoods have a range of percentages, depending on when the homes were bought and whether the properties have been redeveloped with more expensive housing stock.

Not surprisingly, buyers in hot downtown areas, such as Channel District and Harbour Island, are paying taxes on some of the county's highest percentages of home values.

For example, one single-family home built in 2002 on Renaissance Way in Harbour Island has a market value of about $2.3-million and a taxable value of about $1.8-million. In this case, the owner pays taxes on about 78 percent of the home's market value.

Its 2005 tax bill: about $41,400.

Compare that with East Historic Ybor. One single-family home in the 3000 block of E Eighth Avenue, purchased in 1983, has a market value of $74,917.

Improvements and the Save Our Homes savings knock down its assessed value to $28,109, and the homestead exemption takes off another $25,000.

That leaves a taxable value of just $3,109. In this case, the owner pays property tax on just 4.1 percent of the home's market value.

Its 2005 tax bill: $37.05.

[Last modified March 30, 2006, 14:27:32]