Palm Beach tax base hits three-year high

Gary Nikolits
Gary Nikolits

Despite remaining 20 percent less than its 2007 high, Palm Beach County’s tax base grew for the third year in a row, according to a report by the Palm Beach Post.

The July 1 tax roll released by Palm Beach Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits shows that for the first time since the beginning of the recession, all of the county’s 38 cities and towns experienced a year-over-year increase in taxable value.

“If you were to trend the values from back in the late ’90s to current, we are probably where we should have been if we’d had normal market conditions all along,” Nikolits told the Palm Beach Post.

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Nikolits’ report also shows that taxable property values in Palm Beach County increased to $139.6 billion on the first day of 2014 from $130 billion on the first day of 2013. According to County Administrator Bob Weisman, Palm Beach will generate an additional $44 million in property tax revenue for the operating budget.

Property owners who don’t have a homestead exemption, however, may suffer increases on their next tax bill. [Palm Beach Post] — Kerry Barger