Q&A of the Day – South Florida Property taxes and public schools
It’s the Q&A of the day. Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Twitter: @brianmuddradio
Facebook: Brian Mudd https://www.facebook.com/brian.mudd1
Today’s question came via Twitter on back of my story earlier this week showing all South Florida counties among the highest taxed in the state with Miami Dade being the highest overall…
About property Taxes in Miami-Dade. Don't Public Schools take about 90% of the tax?
Bottom Line: The answer isn’t going to be near 90% but it’s a lot. It also depends on where you live within a given county as well. Miami-Dade has eight different agencies authorized to levy property taxes, so there’s a lot of money moving in different directions from your property taxes.
In case you missed my story earlier this week, Broward and Palm Beach Counties having average property tax rates that are 51% higher than the state average and Miami-Dade's is 57% higher. Something I always recommend that you do when you get your annual property assessed value statement is to look at all the different places your property tax money is going and how much you’re paying. Most people who do and report back to me are surprised.
I’ll use mine as an example.
There are 13 ad valorem taxing authorities I’m paying property tax to and three non-ad valorem taxing interests. That’s a lot of money going in many different directions. Education is the biggest overall category at about 35% of my bill. Statewide the average is generally 40%-45% of property taxes going to education. The rest of the education funding comes through the federal government and state lottery programs.
Knowing where your property tax money is going is helpful, for any number of reasons, but especially during election cycles when bond questions come up.
Here’s a link to the property appraiser’s offices in each county to look up your taxes.
Broward: http://www.bcpa.net/
Miami-Dade: https://www.miamidade.gov/pa/tax.html
Palm Beach: https://www.pbcgov.com/papa/