It’s important property owners review the information contained in this notice, as it will show their property’s 2024 just/market value and assessed/Save Our Homes value, tax-saving exemptions and a detailed breakdown of the proposed taxes as set by the taxing authorities listed on this notice.

The 2024 just value is what my office believes a willing buyer or seller would have paid for the property on Jan. 1, 2024. The assessed/SOH value, less your exemptions, determines the value you are taxed on. If you have any questions about your just or assessed values, we encourage you to first contact our office. If, after speaking with our office, you do not agree with the just value, you may file an appeal challenging your 2024 just value with the Broward County Value Adjustment Board. Information about the Value Adjustment Board appeal process is included with the TRIM Notice.

Property tax exemptions save people money. Property owners who are receiving the benefit of Homestead Exemption and any other tax-saving exemptions will see these exemptions listed on their TRIM Notice. You should review the exemptions listed on this notice to ensure you are receiving all the property tax exemptions you are entitled to. While Homestead Exemption and the Limited-Income Senior Exemption are the most common, residents can review all the exemptions available to qualified applicants at web.bcpa.net/bcpaclient/#/Homestead. Fortunately, applicants can still late file for any 2024 exemption until Sept. 18, 2024.

The TRIM Notice provides important information for property owners should they have questions about the tax rates and fees being proposed by the county, school board, municipalities and other taxing districts. Your local elected officials who set your tax rates want to hear from you. Property owners have the right to attend public hearings where the proposed tax rates and fees will be discussed. These public hearings allow property owners to voice their opinions and ask questions about the proposed tax rates and how these funds are used. Information about the dates, times and locations of these hearings are listed on the TRIM Notice as well.

I encourage property owners to carefully review the information included in their 2024 TRIM Notice. My office is always available to answer any questions property owners may have. We can be reached at 954-357-6830. Our office is in the Governmental Center at 115 S Andrews Ave., Room No. 111, in Fort Lauderdale and is open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can also email me directly at MartyKiar@bcpa.net.

Marty Kiar is the Broward County Property Appraiser and previously served in the Florida House of Representatives and on the Broward County Commission. He is a lifelong resident of Broward County and lives with his family in Plantation.

Many Broward County residents who have not established U.S. citizenship or permanent residency may still qualify for valuable property-tax exemptions such as the homestead and senior exemptions. Since 2014, 98,673 non-U.S. citizens have been approved for the homestead exemption in Broward County. In 2021 alone, 4,678 non-U.S. citizens filed homestead exemption applications with our office. Unfortunately, many property owners never apply because they believe they are not eligible as non-U.S. citizens.

Under Florida law, to be eligible for homestead exemption, a non-U.S. citizen homeowner must either:

be a permanent resident (i.e. green card holder)

have been granted asylum, have applied for asylum or have another permanent residency under color of law

be a legally or naturally dependent minor child who is a U.S. citizen and who maintains permanent residence at the property

If you currently own a home in Broward County and have made it your place of permanent residence as of Jan. 1, 2022 and believe you may be eligible for homestead exemption, please contact my office to file an application for this tax year. The deadline to file for all 2022 exemptions is Sept. 19, 2022.

While homestead exemption saves an owner approximately $700 to $1,000 in taxes, it also allows for the Save Our Homes cap. This cap limits increases to the assessed/SOH value of a home to no more than 3% per year regardless of any increases to the property’s just value. This results in considerable savings over time and begins the year after the property receives homestead exemption.

To learn more about applying for homestead exemption and all other exemptions, please visit our website at web.bcpa.net. For assistance, please contact our Customer Service and Exemptions Department at 954-357-6830 or email me at martykiar@bcpa.net. As always, it is an honor to serve the more than 1.9 million residents that call Broward County home.

Marty Kiar is the property appraiser of Broward County.

The Save Our Homes Amendment to the Florida Constitution limits the annual increase to a homestead property’s assessed value to no more than a maximum of 3% per year or the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), regardless of any increases to the property’s market value, also known as the just value. The assessed value of a residential property is the just value minus any limitations under the Save Our Homes amendment. Portability allows property owners to transfer all or a portion of the difference between the just value and the assessed value from a previous homesteaded property to a new homesteaded property. This reduces the assessed value of the new homestead, which in turn reduces the amount of property taxes owed by the property owner.

Right now, property owners have two tax years to transfer or “port” all or part of their homestead assessment difference to a new homestead anywhere in Florida. Amendment 5 would extend the time frame from two tax years to three tax years. Amendment 5 applies to 330,000 current property owners with homestead exemptions in Palm Beach County; 405,165 homesteaded property owners in Broward County; and 420,000 homesteaded property owners in Miami-Dade County.

Under current law, to qualify for portability a homeowner must have “received a homestead exemption as of January 1 of either of the two immediately preceding years.” The intention of the two-year limit was to allow homeowners a full two years to apply for portability. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way in practice because a tax year starts on January 1, meaning a property owner may have less than two calendar years to use this important benefit — Amendment 5 will fix this.

An example of how portability currently works is that if a homeowner sold a home with homestead exemption in November 2019, the owner must establish a new homestead exemption by January 1, 2021 to be able to transfer any portability. This is only 13 months after the sale of the initial property, not the two years envisioned in the Save Our Homes amendment. Increasing the limit to three years will ensure that homeowners can count on having a full two years to qualify for portability.

Amendment 6 provides a homestead tax discount for the surviving spouses of deceased veterans who had permanent, combat-related disabilities. There are several exemptions and discounts for Florida veterans, and all of them transfer to surviving spouses upon the veteran’s death except this one exemption. Vote yes on Amendment 6 because it honors the service of our veterans and their families.

Marty Kiar is the Broward County Property Appraiser. Dorothy Jacks is the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser. Pedro Garcia is the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser.

Non-homesteaded property is property that is not a person’s primary residence and is not protected by the homestead exemption. Non-homesteaded property can include, but is not limited to, commercial property, rental property and second homes.

In 2008, the Florida electorate voted to amend Florida’s Constitution to provide for a 10 percent cap on the assessed value of non-homesteaded property. The cap does not apply to the value taxed by the school district. This cap leads to a reduced tax bill with significant savings for many property owners. The 10 percent cap on non-homestead property is set to expire in 2019. If the 10 percent cap expires, then all non-homesteaded property owners will have their properties reassessed to market value and many will see a substantial increase in their property tax bill.

Hypothetically, if the 10 percent cap were eliminated today, approximately 170,000 non-homesteaded Broward County property owners would see an increase in their taxes, with some of these increases being significant. Based on current data and tax rates, these 170,000 non-homesteaded property owners would be responsible for paying their share of an estimated $88,500,000 tax increase.

Higher property taxes on non-homestead property could have negative ripple effects on our local economy. Landlords may increase rents and many businesses may pass the tax increase on to consumers by increasing the price of goods and services.

The Florida Legislature has placed a proposed amendment to Florida’s Constitution on the November 2018 general election ballot. Amendment 2 would eliminate the expiration provisions currently in place and extend indefinitely the 10 percent cap on non-homestead property. For Amendment 2 to pass into law, more than 60 percent of the votes cast must be in favor of Amendment 2. I strongly urge you to vote “YES” in favor of Amendment 2.

Marty Kiar is Broward County Property Appraiser.

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However, there were squalls of heavy winds, torrential rains, power outages and hazardous conditions throughout Thursday and into the early morning on Friday.

Broward County did not sustain heavy damage and loss of life because our residents and visitors took this storm seriously. Most people put up shutters, bought supplies, stayed off the roads and hunkered down in their homes or a shelter until hazardous conditions subsided.

People also sought guidance from Broward County‘s 3-1-1 emergency hotline, which worked around the clock providing assistance to our residents and visitors. Those responsible actions allowed the Broward Emergency Response Team (BERT), which includes Broward County Government, all 31 cities, the Broward School Board, the Broward Sheriff’s Office and others, to safely and efficiently implement all policies and procedures designed to keep our residents safe.

The cooperation among the various BERT agencies was excellent. A good example occurred the night before the storm. Broward County Transit needed additional assistance in transporting adults with special needs to shelters. BERT contacted Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie, who immediately provided wheelchair accessible buses to assist in transporting these residents.

The news media should also be commended as their stellar coverage gave BERT the ability to communicate important information with Broward County residents and visitors.

Broward County has returned to normal. We have resumed all important community functions, such as reopening Broward County Government services, the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Port Everglades and Broward County Transit.

Some intersections and thousands of households lost power from storm conditions. Once BERT received the “all clear” early Friday morning, approximately 1,400 FPL crews started working around the clock to restore power to residents. All critical infrastructure was restored by Friday morning.

Moving forward, BERT will be performing a damage assessment and, if necessary, will seek reimbursement from the state and federal government for critical infrastructure damage, beach erosion and the cost of emergency operations.

Even though Broward County was fortunate to have been spared by Matthew, a potentially catastrophic hurricane could hit Broward County sometime in the future. Our residents should use this as an opportunity to review their hurricane preparedness plan and identify ways to make improvements if need be.

In this instance, the responsible actions of our residents and visitors, BERT and the news media prove that we are ready to weather any storm that nature throws at us.

Marty Kiar is the mayor of Broward County. He can be reached at 954-357-7001 or mkiar@broward.org.

One such effort is focused on a resource that we often take for granted — water. We depend upon the Biscayne Aquifer and the health of the greater Everglades to support our water demands, but the amount of water available is limited.

By improving our efficiency of water use, we can reduce our need to invest in higher-cost alternative water supplies, and also mitigate for the impacts of droughts.

With this recognition, the Conservation Pays Program was launched, to provide residents and business with rebates and other incentives to partner in conservation. The result — already a 20 percent reduction in water use across the county.

Through the Broward Water Partnership, Broward County and 17 municipal and water utility partners are offering $100 rebates for residents, businesses and nonprofits that swap their older toilets for highly efficient WaterSense models. You pick the color, the model, the installer and we’ll write you a check for up to $100.

Since 2012, we’ve issued 7,921 rebates. We’ve distributed aerators and shower heads and encouraged people to use better irrigation methods. Together, residents, businesses and nonprofits in our partner communities have saved nearly 750 million gallons of water (equivalent to more than 1,100 Olympic-sized swimming pools).

But that’s not all. We are currently providing yet another incentive for conservation with the launching of the Neighborhood Water Challenge where participants can win $1,000 in cash or a new WaterOptimizer irrigation system. There are two ways to win. You can get together with your neighbors and save water for two months. If you save the most, each family on your team wins $1,000. Or, you can do something to promote conservation, then tell us what you did and how it went. Participants need to register in advance, but can enter one or both categories.

When it’s raining it’s hard to think about conservation, but the fact is our water resources have limits, and new sources will cost much more.

Besides, when we save water, we save money.

It is my pleasure to be able to share the results of this agency partnership, the demonstrated enthusiasm of our residents and businesses for protecting our water resources and the environment, and the overall influence of the Conservation Pays Program. If you haven’t already, I hope you will join us in this campaign.

Visit ConservationPays.com for all the details on conservation, rebates and the Neighborhood Water Challenge. When you save water, you win. With the Neighborhood Water Challenge, you could be the big winner.

Marty Kiar is Broward County mayor.