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The Tax Man Cometh


....And is someone looking out for you in Mount Dora?

Let's quickly review what happened with the recently passed Mount Dora 2015-2016 Annual Budget.

Oh it can be difficult to understand, too. Recently, I read that Mount Dora did not increase its tax rate. That is true. It is also true is that, on average, our property values went up. So, when you calculate the actual TAX you take the RATE times the VALUE and you end up with a 1.78% tax increase.

But wait! There's more! Remember that $50 Fire Assessment Fee? Yep -- it is not part of your Ad Valrem tax but it is part of the money that comes out of your pocket. Cash is cash.

Tax comparisons are tricky -- you have changes to valuation, different deductions for Homestead exemption and other exemption(s) so it is difficult to do a complete and easy comparison. But, let's try.

Say, for instance that there are 3 homeowners in our example - each with differing taxable values for their Mount Dora City Taxes. To be clear -- you pay lots of different taxes -- school, county, other -- but we are only going to talk about the Mount Dora portion.

So let's say that the values of the homes are in the low 100's, 200's and low 400's and for simplicity we will say that the Mount Dora tax amount is $500, $1,000 and $2,000 respectively.

So back to the increase of 1.78% for each of them brings a small increase. So after that you have a cost for each as follows:

$ 508.90

$ 1,017.80

$ 2,035.60

Then add on the $50 Fire Assessment fee and you see this cost structure:

$ 558.90

$ 1,067.80

$ 2,085.60

Then you calculate the percentage increase in total taxation including the Fire Assessment fee (I hope you are sitting down):

11.78%

6.78%

4.28%

Then see the regressive nature of the tax. A person with the least valuable home will see a de facto increase in taxation of nearly 12%. The owner of the more expensive homes will see an absolute higher tax and also an increase of 4-6+% for those home values. In all cases, taxes went up and much more than the 1.78% that you might have thought.

Some of your council members voted for the fire assessment, some against and others did not vote at all. Nonetheless, it was the City Council that is responsible for our taxes and we need to hold them accountable for the outcome -- not just some votes or non-votes.

Gone should be the days where a Council member can say, "Yeah -- your taxes went up but I voted against the increase" -- If someone can't make a case or influence the council to do what he/she is advocating then it is time to try out some other people to make it happen.

Our tax base is not shrinking -- we should have the ability to make sure our taxes do not increase while still making sure we provide the appropriate services. Your current council did not make that happen. Maybe it is time to try another approach.

Early voting begins October 19th (WT Bland Library) and Election Day is November 3rd.

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