Coral Gables proposes tax white

The Coral Gables City Commission has proposed a tax rate of $6.189 per every $1,000 in assessed property value in an attempt to close its budget gap for the year that begins Oct. 1. Because the rate — higher than last year’s $5.895 rate — will theoretically still produce the same amount of property tax revenue for the city this year, it does not technically count as a tax increase under state law, said the city’s finance director, Don Nelson. He added that in practice the city will probably take in thousands of dollars less in property taxes than it did last year because some homeowners will challenge their assessments in order to pay less. The tax base for Coral Gables dropped 6.8 percent over the past year to $11.8 billion from $12.7 billion, according to Pedro Garcia, the property appraiser for Miami-Dade County. As a result, many longtime Coral Gables homeowners who had been enjoying artificially low property taxes under the state’s Save Our Homes law will likely see those taxes increase. Meanwhile, more recent homeowners could see their taxes decline. [Miami Herald] 

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