Property tax collections top $4.6 billion 

As property values rise, so do local tax bills; total is up 7 percent countywide this year.

Cities in Palm Beach County are preparing to collect more than $1 billion in property taxes this year.

Throw in the other two biggest taxing bodies — Palm Beach County and the Palm Beach County School District — and collections are poised to reach $4.69 billion from people and businesses that own property in Palm Beach County.

That’s a 7 percent increase over last year. That’s more than two times the rate of inflation, pointed out Dominic Calabro, president and CEO of Florida Tax Watch.

“It’s only adding more inflationary pressures to the hardworking taxpayers of Palm Beach County,” Calabro said. “When people say inflation is the problem, the one place they can look is at their own governments.”

Inflation is often cited by city managers to explain why they need more money. It costs more to make repairs and pay salaries. 

“It’s what it costs to run things in this market,” said Palm Springs Village Manager Michael Bornstein. “An important thing for people to understand is that the property tax is a significant way to pay for the services that cost a lot of money.”

It’s one of many options governments rely on, said Bryan Cutsinger, assistant professor of economics in the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University.

“Obviously, if you’re going to have a government, and obviously if that government is doing something, you have to pay for it,” Cutsinger said.

“Property taxes are a specific form of what is more broadly considered to be a wealth tax,” he said, pointing out that renters too are affected because property owners pass along the cost of the tax.

$3,000 per resident

Palm Beach County, with a population of 1.5 million, has more than 650,000 parcels of land, from apartment buildings in Belle Glade to malls in Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens to vast estates in Palm Beach.

That’s more than $3,000 per resident or more than $7,100 per parcel.

And the property tax is not the only source of money for cities and counties. There’s sales and utility taxes, permit fees, traffic tickets, grants and many others.

But it’s the biggest. 

While state government runs on the sales tax and the feds have the income tax, local governments rely on property taxes to pay for police and fire coverage, garbage pickup, libraries, parks, street repair and many other tasks.

Whether your property is in a city or not, you pay property taxes to the county and the school district based on the value of your land. When land values are rising, residents pay more unless taxing bodies lower tax rates. 

“Lot of communities definitely mislead you,” Calabro said. “‘Oh, we lowered your taxes.’ No, you didn’t lower our taxes. Even if you lowered your tax rate, there’s a great chance you’re increasing taxes.”

Delray alone is not raising taxes

Most Palm Beach County cities this year entered final tax discussions this month with the same rate as last year. 

Four proposed higher rates: Loxahatchee Groves, Ocean Ridge, North Palm Beach and Boca Raton.

Five advertised a lower rate: Delray Beach, Highland Beach, Boynton Beach, Westlake and Palm Beach Gardens.

And only one of those five, and that’s one more than in years past, voted to drop its rate to what is defined in state law as the rollback rate, the rate at which taxes will bring in the same amount as the previous year.

That’s Delray Beach, which dropped its tax rate to $5.90 per $1,000 of value from $6.36, forcing the city manager to scramble to avoid major cuts.

Thirty-seven of the county’s 39 cities charge a property tax. (Only the two tiniest towns, Cloud Lake and Glen Ridge, do not.)

The 37 cities expect to collect more in property tax payments in the upcoming year than they did in the past year because property values rose countywide by 10 percent.

Palm Beach equals four towns

Since collections are based on property value, small, wealthy towns can raise substantial sums. 

Palm Beach, for example. It expects to collect about $84 million from property taxes. That’s more than North Palm Beach, Greenacres, Lake Worth Beach and Tequesta combined, home to 10 times more residents.

Conversely, look at South Bay. It’s making no change to its $6.31 tax rate so it will raise $700,000 in property taxes. While it has about half the population of Palm Beach, the town south of Lake Okeechobee will fall at less than 1 percent of Palm Beach’s lofty heights.

West Palm Beach would collect the most among cities: $190 million, it reported in its Truth In Millage form to the county property appraiser. Taxpayers recently received those TRIM reports to get a preliminary glimpse of their tax bill.

Rounding out the top 10 cities for revenue, based on TRIM notices, in order from most to least: Boca Raton, Palm Beach Gardens, Delray Beach, Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, Riviera Beach, Jupiter, Wellington and North Palm Beach.

Those 10 cities alone account for $848 million in tax collections.

In all, the cities raised $942 million last year. This year, they’re topping $1 billion.

The county, which collects property taxes from city and non-city residents alike, expects to  collect $1.4 billion this year.

The school district has two lines on your tax bill, one imposed by the state, the other by the local school board. Together, they are in line to raise $2.2 billion.

Stet News intern Mary Rasura contributed to this story.

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