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| October 13, 2008 |
By: The Charlotte Sun |
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ill Furst intends to do his part to ease what he thinks are the unfair burdens of Florida's property tax system, but some have questioned whether the proposed methods of Sarasota County's new property appraiser follow Florida law.
In the August Republican primary, Furst defeated incumbent Jim Todora 54.23 percent to 45.77 percent. His victory was thanks, in part, to a campaign in which he pledged to assess properties below 100 percent of just value. Furst has cited leeway offered by the Florida Department of Revenue in the application of taxable property values.
He says it's a common practice: Many property appraisers across the state deliberately undervalue the county's tax rolls to avoid over-assessing properties.
"You can't try to hit an average of 100 percent without the risk of some people being over-taxed," Furst said.
But other property appraisers, like Frank Desguin in Charlotte County and Newt Keen in DeSoto County, say they shoot for 100 percent of just value because it's required by state law. If the state determines property values have not been assessed within a reasonable proximity of their total value, there can be serious consequences.
"We can't assess it at lower than market value," Keen said. "I guess you could if nobody looked at your tax roll, but we turn it in to the Florida Department of Revenue, and they go over it with a fine-tooth comb."
2008: A bad year for incumbents
In years past, Todora has earned good marks in annual reviews from the Florida Department of Revenue. In 2007, the department's review determined his assessments were 99.2 percent accurate – the most accurate in the state.
While accurate, his performance was higher than the statewide 95.5 percent average of total value assessments, minus cost of sales, in 2006.
Sometimes appraisers can over-assess, like Todora did in 2005, hitting 102.3 percent, based on the Department of Revenue estimate.
Because appraisal is not an exact science, property appraisers are never perfect, said Frank Desguin, Charlotte County's appraiser. The inevitable imperfections apply when assessing thousands of properties each year.
"It's the nature of the beast," Desguin said. "In mass appraisal, you will always have properties that are valued for more or less than they would go for on the open market."
Regardless of how close Todora was to the 100 percent goal, he was consistently too high, Furst said. That central campaign theme, which included a promise to assess property at the level "lowest allowable by law," helped to carry Furst to victory in Sarasota.
A similar tactic is being employed in Charlotte County, where Lou Spacco hopes to unseat Desguin, the incumbent. Spacco's campaign themes are similar to Furst's: Promises to lower property assessments and increase the quality of customer service in the property appraiser's department.
"Obviously it was a good plan," Spacco said of Furst's campaign strategy. "He won."
Spacco said he wants the office to be an advocate for the citizens of Charlotte County, not a "revenue-raising arm" of the government.
"I am going to set assessments at the lowest value allowed by law," he said.
Technically, the lowest legal level would be 90 percent of total value, after the cost of sale is subtracted. Desguin was determined to be at 93.3 percent in 2007 by the Florida Department of Revenue.
The campaigns of Furst and Spacco are a sign of the times: Public sentiment towards government is extremely negative, and Floridians want their property taxes to go lower.
But the job of the property appraiser is to fairly assess land's value, said Overton. The job of an appraiser, he said, is not to influence the tax rates.
"The fact of the matter is we're all supposed to be doing the same thing," Overton said. "I'd be very hesitant to go out and promise anybody I'm going to lower their tax bill."
Overton is not on the ballot this year, and DeSoto County Property Appraiser Newt Keen faces no opponents on the ballot in his re-election — a relief for both men.
"I was lucky enough not to have opposition," Keen said, "because this is a bad year for anybody."
The numbers game
It's been two decades since the Florida Department of Revenue discredited a county's tax roll, preventing a local municipality from collecting revenue. It's rare because the department works closely with each county's property appraiser to ensure they will meet state requirements in assessing their county's land.
"What normally happens is we go through a testing phase during the summer," said Renee Waters, spokesperson for the Department of Revenue. "We kind of work back and forth with them."
But the system is built on the assumption that each appraiser will shoot for 100 percent. The totals can go as low as 90 because assessing property values is not an exact science, and opinions may vary.
"The property appraiser is constitutionally bound to appraise property at market value — not above, not below," said Overton. "If they put anything else on the piece of paper, they have not done their job."
But Overton concedes that most appraisers hope to have their tax roll hit somewhere slightly below 100 percent, as determined by the Department of Revenue, to err on the side of caution with property owners.
However, to pick and shoot for a specific number would be near impossible, he said.
"It's statistics," Overton said. "It's very difficult to precisely say I'm going to hit 95 percent."
And that's why Overton would not make a campaign promise to set property values as low as legally possible, at 90 percent.
"That's too low," he said. "If you shoot for 90, you're going to miss it."
Furst admits that his campaign slogan — to assess properties at the lowest level legally allowed — is more of a goal than an absolute promise. He acknowledges that he cannot hit 90 percent exactly, and to shoot for that exact total without allowing a margin of error runs the risk of having the tax roll discredited by the Department of Revenue.
But he also points to the fact that it's been two decades since a roll was discredited as proof that the state doesn't want to hold up an entire county's budget process.
"If you hit 89 percent, they might come in and say we need to work on this and help you fix it," Furst said. "It is a nightmare if they didn't certify a roll."
But Charlotte County Property Appraiser Frank Desguin said he feels actively aiming to lower property values jeopardizes the faith that citizens have in the appraisal system.
"Integrity and honesty, that to me is the ground floor, the basis for being property appraiser," Desguin said. "That's the whole point of property appraiser, is to treat everyone equitably."
As an elected official, Desguin said his job is to follow the law.
"I could think that's the worst law in the state, but I've still got to follow it," he said. "I've still got to do it, or the Department of Revenue tells me, 'We can't approve your tax roll.'"
A product of the problem, or a cause of it?
Furst admits he was concerned about what he could promise voters when he began his campaign for Sarasota County property appraiser. So he contacted the Florida Department of Revenue and asked them if his campaign slogan — a pledge to assess values at the lowest allowable level — was appropriate. He said they told him it was fine.
"Somebody ought to be an advocate for the citizen," Furst said.
Most everyone — appraisers, legislators, citizens — can agree that Florida's property tax system is flawed. The question is, who should be the one to fix it?
Lowering assessed property values is by no means a guarantee that taxes will be affected at all. Local school boards have a minimum match of revenue they must generate for the state, and city and county governments typically set their millage rates based on the assessed property roll in order to produce the needed amount of revenue for the year.
In other words, dropping property values across the board is unlikely to lower taxes, because property appraisers don't set the tax rates (that's the local government), and they don't write the laws on how properties are assessed (that's the state Legislature).
But as Sarasota County Commissioner Shannon Staub said, sometimes promises, no matter how well-intentioned, can prove impossible to keep.
"When you're campaigning, you always say things you think you can do," Staub said. "And then when you get in the job, you find you can't do everything you wanted to do."
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