Nov 5, 2007 9:54 pm US/Eastern
The Property "Tax Man" Cometh
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
An unpleasant surprise has shown up in mail boxes across Miami Dade and Broward Counties over the last few days; thousands and thousands of homeowners have received their 2007 property tax bills.
"It's about $3-thousand," said Gaspar Rodriguez who lives in southwest Miami Dade off Miller Road.
He counts himself as one of the lucky ones; he's been living in his
Homestead" protected house for a quarter of a century.
"So I'm paying, again, $3-thousand. A lot of my neighbors are paying close to $10-thousand for virtually the same size house," said Rodriguez, "virtually the same size, probably smaller."
But not all the news was good news for Rodriguez.
"Property taxes on my little old thousand square foot warehouse went up from twelve hundred dollars to two thousand two hundred," said Rodriguez, "pretty close to a hundred percent increase."
Residents who have lived in a house, townhouse, or condo for several years and have a homestead exemption will be paying a lot less for their 2007 property taxes than some who bought a home in the last year, owns a second home, or has a business.
CBS4 reporter Gary Nelson stopped by an 'Open House' in southwest Miami Dade hosted by Rick Mejaris, who said the signs have been out for the last 6 months but so far no sale.
"Today it's been slow, today it hasn't been a great day," Mejaris told
Nelson, "today, actually you are, our first visitor."
Last week, Florida legislators passed a plan that will allow homeowners to take tax savings with them to a more expensive home and gave existing homeowners a couple of hundred dollars off their taxes. That measure, which did not offer any benefits to first time home buyers, must still be approved by voters in January.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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