Residents get far more service for less money

Thanks to property taxes paid by non-residents, the county is able to provide quality government service, the property appraiser says. But despite the strong forecast, property values are declining.

By BRIDGET HALL

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 14, 2000

CRYSTAL RIVER -- Citrus County will never be as cheap a place to live as Sumter or Levy counties, Citrus Property Appraiser Ron Schultz said, but the quality of life here gives taxpayers the most "bang for their buck."

Citrus County collects more property tax dollars per resident than most other Florida counties, enabling the government to provide better services and facilities, Schultz told Economic Development Council board members Thursday.

Remarkably, however, that does not mean Citrus County residents pay higher taxes than most of their neighbors.

People and companies that are based outside of the county, but own property here, foot more than half of the county's property tax bills.

Citrus homeowners make up less than 40 percent of the property tax base, and their annual tax bills are well below the state average.

The bottom line: Citrus residents get more out of government services than they pay for, because so much of the property taxes are paid by people beyond the county line.

"If there is one picture of the economic strength of Citrus County, it is on this page," Schultz said, gesturing to his data-laden handout.

According to data compiled by Schultz's office:

Citrus County collected $808 in property taxes per resident in 1998, compared with the state average of $709 per person.

On average, Citrus homeowners paid $520 in property taxes in 1998, compared to the state average of $821 per home.

In 1999, Citrus County collected nearly $97-million in property taxes, but only 43 percent of that, about $42-million, came from people living in Citrus County. Other Floridians paid $38-million in taxes for the property they own here; $15.7-million more came from people living outside Florida. Foreigners based as far away as Hong Kong and Germany paid $606,000 in Citrus County property taxes.

So even though the average property taxes paid in other counties are lower than Citrus County's $520 -- Levy averaged $232 and Sumter averaged $360 per homeowner -- few counties can match the value of services that Citrus residents receive for what they pay, Schultz said.

"We lose if we try to compete with Levy and Sumter because they can out-cheapen us," Schultz told EDC members.

Schultz pointed to one dark cloud in the economic forecast: the declining value of homes in Citrus County.

More than a quarter of the new houses added to the tax rolls last year were mobile homes, with an average taxable value of $25,876.

Conventional and modular houses average a taxable value of $86,623.

Not only do mobile homeowners pay considerably less in taxes, but the declining demand for conventional homes drives down their market price.

The average resale price for homes in Beverly Hills units 1-7, for example, has hovered around $40,000 over the last 11 years. Because the prices have not kept up with inflation, the homes there have depreciated about 23 percent, Schultz said.

EDC board member Paul Danner, president of the local Regions Bank branches, said his bank just financed a Beverly Hills home that was priced at $36,000 but sold for $29,000.

"What you have out there are a lot of estates, where Mother has just died and her family from up north just wants to dump the house," he said.

Over the past decade, the declining value of homes and other properties would have caused county tax revenue to drop significantly, if not for one very important taxpayer: Florida Power.

The taxable value of Florida Power's holdings improved from $1-billion in 1989 to $1.5-billion last year, and its gains offset most of the losses experienced throughout the county, Schultz said.

Schultz's message to EDC members: Economic development is not just about bringing new jobs to the county.

"If that new business is going to pay $7 an hour to employees that they import in, and they all buy mobile homes, then you're worse off," Schultz said.

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