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Why are my taxes so high? I live on a lime rock road without central utilities.
Real Estate taxes are a function of the value of your property, established by the Property Appraiser’s Office and the millage rates adopted by the various taxing authorities in Hernando County.
The buyers and the sellers participating in the local real estate market determine Real Estate values. Therefore, if market transactions indicate that properties in your neighborhood, with similar amenities, are selling for a certain amount of money, they will be assessed accordingly. We know you probably don’t want to sell your property, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a value.
It is possible that the value of your property could decrease from the prior year and your taxes remain the same or even increase due to the taxing authorities changing the millage rate to meet their budget requirements.
In a real estate market where property values are increasing, it is possible that the taxing authorities may keep the prior year’s millage rate or even reduce it slightly due to the increase in property values. Each year the taxing authorities are required to calculate a “rollback” millage which would generate the same amount of revenue as the prior year but using the current year’s property values. Legally, any millage rate adopted by the taxing authorities which exceeds the rollback rate is considered to be a tax increase and should be published in a local paper as such.
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