Property values hit $44 billion

Construction fuels 12.7% boost in Lee

By JEFF CULL, jcull@news-press.com

Lee County's property values jumped above the $40 billion mark in 2001 spurred by $2.1 billion in new construction.

That came as great news to county and municipal officials who believe property taxes won't have to be raised next year.

'This is all great news,' Lee County Commissioner Andy Coy said. 'The increases almost assures that we won't raise taxes.'

Preliminary values released Friday by Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson put the county's real and personal property value at $44.4 billion, up 12.7 percent from last year. The new construction figure is about 17 percent higher than last year's record year.

'It's following the same trend for the past three or four years,' Wilkinson said of the double-digit rise. 'It's what I anticipated, I just didn't think we'd be this high.'

The southern part of Lee County continues to be the hot spot with Estero leading all property value increases with 39 percent. Bonita Springs followed with a 17.2 percent rise.

Bonita Springs City Manager Gary Price said the increase was great news. It will allow the city to proceed with planned road and other improvement projects while making it easier for the city to avoid a tax increase, he added.

'If we can meet the roll back rate, Bonita taxpayers for the third year in a row, will pay less taxes than people in unincorporated Lee County,' Price said.

Other municipalities fared just about as well, according to Wilkinson's report. Cape Coral added $700 million in value, up 11.5 percent; Sanibel increased 13.5 percent; and Fort Myers Beach values jumped 13.9 percent. Fort Myers showed the most modest rise, just 3.3 percent.

Florida's property appraisers are required by state law to issue preliminary property value estimates by June 1 of each year. It's done to help taxing districts such as cities or fire districts that plan their budgets for next fiscal year, Wilkinson said.

The final figures are due by July 1 and generally have been higher than the preliminary estimates.

The estimates give local governments an idea of what tax money will be available when planning their spending. Any increase will allow government to collect more tax money without raising the basic tax rate.

Governments are notorious for claiming that they hold the line on taxes by not raising tax rates. But, with rising values comes bigger tax bills even though the tax rate remains the same.

The county's property values were held down by more than $2.1 billion in 2001 because of the Save Our Homes law that Wilkinson championed and voters approved in 1992. That law says a homesteaded property's assessed value can only go up by 3 percent or the consumer price index, whichever is less.

'A lot of people are saving a lot of money,' Wilkinson said.

At last year's Lee County property tax rate — $4.3277 per $1,000 of assessed value — taxpayers saved nearly $10 million in county property taxes.

Bonita Springs and Estero

Bonita Springs resident Bill Lonkart, 63, said the city council could do all of Bonita taxpayers some good by reducing the tax rate.

'If they leave it the same, the city will have a lot more money to spend,' he said. 'The way to help the taxpayer is by reducing the rate. It's the right thing to do.'

Lonkart, who thought the property value increase would be nearly 20 percent due to all the new building in the city, said he expects the city and other governments to put a spin on what the property value increase means.

'Normally, what governments will do is if the values are up they'll keep the tax rate the same and say there's no increase.'

Estero resident Arnie Rosenthal, 75, who also serves on Lee County's Smart Growth Task Force, said Estero's increase bolsters residents' arguments that there's a need for revenue sharing between the community and the county.

'We grew more in absolute value than all of Cape Coral and we're just 4€ miles wide,' Rosenthal said. 'All this means is that we're even more of a donor community.'

Rosenthal said Estero residents want more tax money to filter back into Estero. 'We're asking for revenue sharing and we'll keep asking for this until we get it or incorporate,' he said.

Cape Coral

'Wow,' was all that City Councilwoman Gloria Tate could say when she learned that the largest city in the county had increased its value by $700 million.

'It's wonderful news,' she added. 'I hope it's enough to cover everyone's wish list.'

It really wasn't that much of a surprise to Cape residents who are getting used to record-breaking months of new home construction and house resales.

'We haven't slowed down yet,' said Tommy Lee, a Cape Coral real estate broker.

Cape Coral's total property value jumped to $6.8 billion from $6.1 billion in 2000. The total taxable value, after all exemptions are included, is $5.3 billion, compared to $4.7 billion last year.

City Manager Terry Stewart said he knew this was a growth community when he took the Cape job in February. He was an assistant city manager at Pembroke Pines that saw double-digit growth rates throughout the 1990s.

Stewart attributed the Cape's leap in value to both new construction and rising real estate prices.

'A lot of the property, especially on saltwater, is driving a whole lot of it,' he said. 'As people sell the prices keep going up.'

Fort Myers

The city of Fort Myers saw only a 3.3 percent increase in property values in 2001, the lowest of any municipality in the county. But the taxable value, what cities use to actually determine the amount of revenue it will get, increased by 5.4 percent.

And that was good news to Mayor Jim Humphrey.

'I was hoping it would be between 5 and 6 percent. That's great news,' he said.

New construction at $95 million made up nearly all of the $104 million increase. The estimated property value now stands at nearly $3.2 million.

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