What does high inflation mean for property-tax bills in your city? Take a look

In Florida this year, tax bills will bring inflation home for many property owners.

Higher inflation means an increase in the cap for home valuations in tax notices heading out in August, ahead of final bills that come due this fall.

That state cap on increases in assessed values shields existing homeowners from seeing tax bills surge when the real estate market is hot. It limits increases on taxable values on primary residences, regardless of how quickly housing prices are rising.

That cap is pegged to inflation, which in recent years meant a limit of 2% or less.

Not anymore.

With inflation hitting 7% at the end of 2021, Florida’s 2022 cap on increases to taxable home values rose to the maximum allowed of 3%. That’s more than double last year’s 1.4% cap.

READ MORE: What inflation and a real estate boom mean for property taxes

The higher cap can mean hundreds of dollars more in tax payments for typical homeowners in South Florida, according to a Miami Herald analysis of 2021 tax reports.

In Miami, the higher cap would have meant an extra $89 for the average tax bill last year for a home assessed at $262,000, the average in that city, according to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s Office.

In Fort Lauderdale, a 3% cap last year would have meant an extra $118 on the property-tax bill for a home valued at roughly $430,000, the average amount according to data published by the Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office.

The average bill in that city was about $6,700 last year, but would have been more than $6,800 if values were allowed to rise the maximum rate of 3% on primary residences.

The charts below show the Herald analysis for other municipalities across South Florida. The calculations are based on the average assessed value for a primary residence in each municipality.

Two notes on the charts:

▪ The Miami-Dade chart omits two municipalities, the wealthy enclaves of Golden Beach and Indian Creek Village. Because property values are so high in those tiny municipalities, their inclusion would skew the scale of the chart.

▪ Broward County has two taxing districts for its public hospitals, one in the northern part of the county and one in the southern part. They’re designated by (NH) and (SH) when one municipality falls in both districts.