By St. Johns County Property Appraiser Eddie Creamer

Property taxes in Florida are levied as of January 1 of each tax year, even though tax bills are not mailed until November. The tax roll, and ultimately your tax bill, are under the jurisdiction of three different and distinct governmental units or agencies. First the Property Appraiser’s office assesses or appraises all real and tangible personal property in St. Johns County and applies the appropriate exemptions, caps and classified uses to create the tax roll. Next the taxing authorities, primarily St. Johns County and St. Johns County School Board, establish millage rates (the amount of tax per $1,000 in assessed value) and levy the taxes. And finally, the St. Johns County Tax Collector bills and collects the taxes.

The creation of the tax roll begins January 1 and continues until July 1, when the tax roll is submitted to the Florida Department of Revenue for detailed statistical evaluation and approval. The tax roll cannot continue forward to Truth in Millage, TRIM, and ultimately to tax bills until the Florida Department of Revenue issues its approval. Local taxing authorities have no jurisdiction or input into the tax roll.

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Florida is a just market value state, meaning properties are assessed at just market value as of January 1 of each tax year. While there are slightly varying definitions, “just market value” can be defined simply as the amount a willing buyer will pay a willing seller in an open market transaction without any special considerations. Just market value and fair market value are interchangeable terms.

For the 2022 tax year the Property Appraiser’s Office processed and reviewed 13,664 sales from 2021 and qualified 12,851 of those. Sales from 2022 will be utilized to establish 2023 Just Market Values.

For the assessment process, we divide St. Johns County into five distinct geographic markets; two appraisers are assigned to each market, and inside those markets further division is made into homogeneous or similar neighborhoods for appraisal. Each of those sales are recorded into our Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal System (CAMA). Along with qualified sales data, our office utilizes cost information from third party sources as well as building permits to blend in data on new construction costs. Utilizing this data, we establish square foot rates or values, and using regression analysis we establish values for bedrooms and bathrooms. The CAMA system also uses age of the property, effective age of the property based upon permitted improvements over time and physical condition of the property based upon appraiser inspection. The appraisers then establish final values for the neighborhoods for the tax roll.

In mass appraisal for property taxation purposes, the valuations of property and neighborhoods must meet certain statistical benchmarks to assure that those neighborhoods are not under assessed or over assessed. Benchmarks such as mean values, average values, level of appraisal, sales ratios, coefficient of dispersion and time trended analysis all must meet guidelines set by the Florida Department of Revenue and applied in a uniform manner across Florida’s 67 counties. 

After the tax roll is submitted and approved by the Florida Department of Revenue, the property appraiser creates and mails TRIM notices and initiates a 25-day period for taxpayers to appeal values or exemptions to the Value adjustment Board. At the end of the 25-day period, the tax roll is finalized and certified to the Tax Collector for creation and mailing of the property tax bills. At this time the tax roll is closed, and the property appraiser may not make any changes. At the completion of the Value Adjustment Board, changes, if any, are made and the tax roll receives final certification.

On January 1 of the next tax year, the process starts again.

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