Why are property taxes so much higher in PCL than the rest of Florida?

[Northern Maine Land Man]

"Is it a nice area and worth a trip?"

If you can't afford a day trip to check out the area, you cant afford to move.

34 years in real estate.

[LFJourney]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

"Is it a nice area and worth a trip?"

If you can't afford a day trip to check out the area, you cant afford to move.

34 years in real estate.

You don't understand my question. I can afford the trip, and I've been traveling all over this state lately trying to find another nice area to live. But I'd rather ask for feedback in advance so I don't waste more time, money, etc. Prime example - I recently drove to North Ft. Myers to look at a Del Webb community. It was in a very remote and super trashy area. They couldn't give me a house for free to live there!

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by LFJourney

I posted in the past about searching for my new home after stupidly selling my house in a highly-sought after gated community in the Orlando suburbs (I'm still not over it...!). I've been going all over Florida trying to find my new city and home. I recently ended up in Port St. Lucie. I really like it here because it's a new area and, from what I can tell so far, everything seems to be maintained nicely. I found a new community that I really like, but I don't think it's meant to be because the wait time is too long for me at this point and the high fees have made me think twice, too. However, the two things that I can think of right now (rushing) that I don't like about PSL is the lack of shopping, but the biggest thing is that I discovered that the property taxes are outrageously high here compared to the rest of Florida. I'm not talking about when/if CDD's are also added on top of regular property taxes (so it would be even worse). Ever since I arrived here, numerous people have commented to me about how high the property taxes are so I looked into it. The first day, someone said a $500k house would cost $10k in taxes, which is significantly more than I used to pay for my home that I owned forever (I understand the cap). I found that St. Lucie County does have the highest taxes (22.8542) so even a $300k assessed value (just as an example and not what I'd do) would be 300 x 22.8542 = $6,856.26! I compared this to the great county that I used to live in, which is #50 on the list of 67 counties with a tax rate of 15.1809, and the taxes would be $4,554.27 (300 x 15.1809). Can someone please shed some light on PSL's taxes? While I do think the area that I was looking in PSL is very pretty and manicured to my standards, I'm now thinking of moving on because I really don't know that I want to pay that much more in taxes at this stage of my life, especially considering it's going to cost me so much more to buy a home now versus what I got out of my house, which was sold just before prices started skyrocketing (lucky me!). Thanks for any insight that you can provide. I guess I just wanted to make sure that I'm thinking about this clearly before moving on.

I'd guess the non-advalorem is throwing the taxes to the high side. If you want all that new development (roads/sewers/schools) then they need to pay for it somehow.

My current house has $3500 a year in non-advalorem taxes, which once paid off will fall of my tax bill but it might not happen for another 10+ years. My last house it was $1100 and it actually got paid off while I lived there, hence a drop in my tax bill.

[LFJourney]

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

I'd guess the non-advalorem is throwing the taxes to the high side. If you want all that new development (roads/sewers/schools) then they need to pay for it somehow.

My current house has $3500 a year in non-advalorem taxes, which once paid off will fall of my tax bill but it might not happen for another 10+ years. My last house it was $1100 and it actually got paid off while I lived there, hence a drop in my tax bill.

Thanks. It sounds to me that you're referring to CDD fees, which is a non-advalorem assessment. My thread pertained to actual property taxes, but I'm no longer looking in PSL anyway.

[jhlcomp]

To view taxes by county plus additional info
Florida Property Taxes By County - 2024

In addition to those 55+ communities in PSL, there are additional fees you will have to pay. This is one of the key reasons we moved from Weston in Broward County to Vero Beach, Indian River County. We didn’t want to pay all the added costs.

[Carlton Harris]

Originally Posted by Mr. Purple 2

First of all, I don't live in PSL so consider my post accordingly. I do live in Vero Beach in the adjoining county of Indian River (IRC).



When I was looking for property several years ago, I discovered the high PSL real estate taxes from my realtor. I was looking at property in the adjoining county (Indian River) which had limited options. My realtor advise me that were more options in PSL than Vero Beach, but I had better consider the property tax problem if I wanted to purchase in PSL.



The general consensus I have heard of the high real estate taxes from people is that PSL wants to develop as much of the area that is available. With growth comes infrastructure that the county must provide and it is costly. Some people suggest that developers control the county, but this is just comments I have heard. Again providing water/sewer; schools; roads; police and fire costs a lot of money.



Indian River has not allowed the uncontrolled growth and wants to maintain the agricultural aspect of the county. If you not happy with shopping in PSL, you should never consider IRC since it is more rural in nature with very limited shopping.



JMHO.

Mr Purple is correct. The developers own PSL, especially with the new Mayor and Council. It's the highest tax city in the highest tax county in the state. PSL is looking like 2006 just before that big bubble burst. When the balloon pops, how are the taxpayers going to pay for all the new city employees and new vehicles? Going to be tough with the residential property assessments so high.

[Carlton Harris]

Originally Posted by LFJourney

I posted in the past about searching for my new home after stupidly selling my house in a highly-sought after gated community in the Orlando suburbs (I'm still not over it...!). I've been going all over Florida trying to find my new city and home. I recently ended up in Port St. Lucie. I really like it here because it's a new area and, from what I can tell so far, everything seems to be maintained nicely. I found a new community that I really like, but I don't think it's meant to be because the wait time is too long for me at this point and the high fees have made me think twice, too. However, the two things that I can think of right now (rushing) that I don't like about PSL is the lack of shopping, but the biggest thing is that I discovered that the property taxes are outrageously high here compared to the rest of Florida. I'm not talking about when/if CDD's are also added on top of regular property taxes (so it would be even worse). Ever since I arrived here, numerous people have commented to me about how high the property taxes are so I looked into it. The first day, someone said a $500k house would cost $10k in taxes, which is significantly more than I used to pay for my home that I owned forever (I understand the cap). I found that St. Lucie County does have the highest taxes (22.8542) so even a $300k assessed value (just as an example and not what I'd do) would be 300 x 22.8542 = $6,856.26! I compared this to the great county that I used to live in, which is #50 on the list of 67 counties with a tax rate of 15.1809, and the taxes would be $4,554.27 (300 x 15.1809). Can someone please shed some light on PSL's taxes? While I do think the area that I was looking in PSL is very pretty and manicured to my standards, I'm now thinking of moving on because I really don't know that I want to pay that much more in taxes at this stage of my life, especially considering it's going to cost me so much more to buy a home now versus what I got out of my house, which was sold just before prices started skyrocketing (lucky me!). Thanks for any insight that you can provide. I guess I just wanted to make sure that I'm thinking about this clearly before moving on.

Right to move on. Port St Lousy is a fart hole. Figure on assessments at 80-100% of purchase price, and taxation at about $28/thousand assessed. It's big. The city is after more and more cash from residents, to help pay for their high roller spending (think new 4-WD Ram trucks for "office of solid waste" drivers). Also, the roads are a free-for-all with NO traffic enforcement. When you see a cruiser or three with a vehicle pulled over it's usually for a fender bender or a breakdown. Gotta keep those Nascar tracks open!