Sunny Isles commissioner paid back $20K after claiming homestead exemption in Hialeah
Newly appointed Sunny Isles Beach Commissioner Johana Rabinovich was investigated and forced to pay back taxes last week after the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser’s office concluded she improperly claimed a homestead exemption for years on a condo in Hialeah while her husband also claimed a homestead exemption on the condo where she votes and lives with their two children.
Rabinovich says she never applied for a tax break on her Hialeah property, and says the recorded exemption was an error on the part of the county.
But under Florida law, a married couple can’t claim two exemptions. And after an anonymous tipster reported Rabinovich’s Hialeah property, the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser’s office quickly determined that the couple held multiple homesteads.
The complaint was received Dec. 21, and the appraiser’s office communicated the issue to Rabinovich the same day. The county said she paid most of the back taxes — $20,072.95 worth — on Dec. 27 and 28. Receipts provided by Rabinovich after this article initially published online show she paid the full amount of homestead penalties, $21,599.04 worth.
The commissioner, appointed in November to her seat by newly elected Mayor Dana Goldman, is running in a Jan. 25 special election called to fill the two vacant commission seats left open by Goldman and Larisa Svechin when they ran for mayor in November. Rabinovich faces entrepreneur and former mayoral candidate Jerry Joseph and Steve Trattner of the Trattner Group for the Seat 1 commission position, which represents the northern part of the city.
Rabinovich, 38, qualified for the ballot under the terms that she has “resided continuously in the city for at least one year” and can show proof of residency. But the homestead exemption that’s reduced property taxes on her Hialeah condo the last decade requires she reside there full time, too — and at least one opponent has questioned whether Goldman should have appointed Rabinovich in the first place.
“Johana should not be allowed to continue in this race,” Joseph said. “Dana Goldman should take the responsibility and step up to remove her.”
Rabinovich, who has been registered to vote in the city since 2016 and was appointed to fill the seat as an interim commissioner in November, would not agree to an interview, but wrote in an email response that she is “a qualified elector” and has “resolved all issues involving my property in Hialeah.”
She purchased the condo in 2003 under her maiden name, Johana Isaza, and applied for the exemption in 2006, according to the property appraiser. But Rabinovich, who says she bought the condo for her mother, says she didn’t request the exemption.
“I never applied for a homestead exemption for this property. My mother doesn’t remember ever filing an application either,” said Rabinovich. “I talked with the property appraiser’s office and they told me they have no record of a homestead exemption application ever being filed. Regardless, I immediately fixed the problem as soon as I learned of it.”
She said she “always considered it my mother’s property” and that her mother paid all taxes on it.
“She received all tax and other notices about the property, not me,” Rabinovich said. “That was my mistake. I should have had all notices sent to me, since I am ultimately responsible as the owner.”
Her husband, Javier Rabinovich, also told the Miami Herald that “there was an error” from the county, and that she never applied for the exemption despite having received it for the last 10 years. He claims a homestead exemption on a three-bedroom condo they share in the Ocean Two building on Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, according to Miami-Dade County property records. The commissioner is not listed as an owner on the condo, which her husband bought for $1.1 million in 2013, but it is where she is registered to vote, according to Miami-Dade County Elections Department records.
Two homestead exemptions, penalties and voting records
Floridians are eligible for a homestead tax exemption on properties where they live and “in good faith” make a permanent home and primary residence, according to the Miami-Dade County property appraiser.
The tax break, laid out in Florida’s Constitution, is designed to prevent tax bills from forcing a homeowner out of their primary home. According to the state, a property owner could be eligible to knock up to $50,000 off their property’s taxable value through homestead exemptions.
According to the property appraiser, a homestead exemption must be canceled if the property isn’t the permanent residence of the applicant or if the property is being rented. If the owner of a property fails to notify the county property appraiser of changes in status, they can be back taxed for 10 years of exempted taxes, plus 15% interest and a penalty of 50% of the taxes exempted.
Property owners only apply for the exemption once, and it is then applied every year unless the property owner says otherwise or is found to be out of compliance under the law.
Property appraiser records for Rabinovich’s condo show a $25,000 Homestead exemption on every property tax bill from 2011 through 2021. The condo is the only Miami-Dade property the newly appointed commissioner — a former teacher who currently works as an executive at a technology startup — owns in her name, according to property appraiser records.
Records show Rabinovich paid almost all the penalties levied by the property appraiser. The homestead exemption will not be applied to the Hialeah condo in 2022.
Matt Caldwell, the Lee County property appraiser and at-large member of the Florida Association of Property Appraisers board of directors, said at the most basic level, a person should live at the address where they claim a homestead exemption.
“Your homestead is your primary residence,” said Caldwell, who is also a former member of the Florida House. “That is a key feature of qualifying for a homestead exemption under Florida law.”
Even if she does claim homestead elsewhere, however, proof of residency in Sunny Isles Beach is enough to run for office, election attorney Juan Carlos Planas said.
“If she has her driver’s license and voter registration in Sunny Isles Beach, they are not going to kick her out of the election,” he said. “It’s going to be sufficient to establish residency.”
According to the city’s charter, the commission “shall be the sole judge of the qualifications of its members.”
Sunny Isles Beach City Clerk Mauricio Betancur wrote in an email that Rabinovich is qualified to run, citing the charter rules that a candidate can qualify for the ballot by presenting a Sunny Isles Beach-issued Resident Identification card, voter registration, driver’s license, property tax receipt or homestead exemption.
“Commissioner Rabinovich filed the required documents to be duly qualified for office,” he wrote. “The City has no further authority to take any action once a resident has duly qualified in accordance with these provisions.”
Goldman declined requests for interviews by phone, but wrote in an email that she appointed Rabinovich “because she is a highly-qualified and extremely dedicated resident who is ready to serve the city she has called home for many years.”
“[Rabinovich] is a long-time resident and civic activist who is tired of business as usual in our city, and she is ready to confront the many challenges we face,” Goldman wrote. “I am not up to speed on any ‘residency discrepancy’ issues with her.”
Goldman said that “every single person who is running, or has run, for office in our city has some sort of ‘discrepancy.’ ” Goldman did not elaborate.
“Voters, no doubt, will hear more about various discrepancies in the coming weeks,” she wrote.
This article has been updated to include additional information provided by Rabinovich regarding her payment of homestead penalties, and to remove the word “fine” from the headline.
This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 6:00 AM.