Mr. Johnson,
Thank you for your email. Let me clarify.
As you are well aware, your argument refers to the 'overall millage rates' yet I know you are also well aware that the Board of County Commission does not control the millage rates for the School Board, Independent Special Districts, or any of the various nine Municipalities located within Alachua County. We can only control what we can control and to this end, the Board of County Commission has been very focused over the last five years on reducing the tax burden for the taxpayers of Alachua County by holding our Assessments and fees mostly constant while controlling the County's costs and focusing on reducing the Millage rate. I have appreciated your involvement with our budget process over the last few years and as I result I know you have seen these efforts first hand.
As a result of these efforts, in my opinion the Board has made a lot of progress in reducing the millage rate (and has reduced the millage rate in each of the last four years and has actually reduced the rate to the Rollback Rate in three of the last four years). Here are the millage rates for the last five fiscal years;
2017 - 8.9290
2018 - 8.4648 Rollback Rate
2019 - 8.2829 Rollback Rate
2020 - 8.2729
2021 - 7.8935 Rollback Rate
This represents a reduction of 1.0355 or 11.6% in the millage rate (from 8.9290 to 7.8935), I would challenge you to find another county in our State that has achieved this. In my discussions with my colleagues at the Florida Association of Counties I am not aware of another County that has achieved these results and over the last few years, most have been surprised at this progress. Perhaps I'm wrong, but in any event, these efforts should not be dismissed.
In comparison to the Counties that surround Alachua County, based on the 2019 data that you provided, of the seven counties that surround Alachua County, in 2019 Alachua County's millage rate was less than five (as is less than six of them as of 2021). This is also noteworthy when you consider the fact a large portion of our property is off the tax rolls and exempt from taxes due to the University of Florida, Sante Fe and the various other government agencies that have tax exempt status.
The millage rates from the information you provided is below:
Marion - 4.42
Columbia - 8.015 (current rate as of 2021 is 9.0 mills, we are now less than them as Alachua County's 2021 millage rate is 7.8935)
Alachua - 8.2829
Levy - 9.0
Bradford - 9.1104
Gilcrest - 9.5
Putnam - 9.5946
Union - 10.00
Finally, when you compare us to Leon County, who I would argue is the most comparable in size and make up (due to a similar amount tax exempt property off the tax rolls with Florida A&M and Florida State), we have made a lot of progress over the last five years and compare quite well. Please see below;
Leon County Millage Rate 2017 - 8.3144 (lower than Alachua County's 8.9290)
Leon County Millage Rate 2021 - 8.3144 (HIGHER than Alachua County's 7.8935)
I hope this information helps put my comments in perspective, I'll chat with you later.
Best Regards,
Ken
Ken Cornell
County Commissioner
Board of County Commissioners
12 SE 1st ST • Gainesville • FL • 32601
• 352-281-4000 (mobile)
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-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2021 6:36 PM
To: BOCC (Only Commissioners) <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: Tommy Crosby <[log in to unmask]>; Michele Lieberman <[log in to unmask]>; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fake news about taxes dispelled
CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders.
Mr. Chair,
I'm confused over your insistence that Alachua is a low tax county.
When I say the overall millage is 21.6007 mils you disregard that value and quote the 7.5 mill figure.
Are you saying "county government operating" millage is more important than overall millage?
My property taxes have increase for five consecutive years.
Mr. Chair, you make it sound like you are doing the taxpayers a favor with your rollback rates.
The only thing taxpayers care about when they receive their tax bill is did it go up or did it go down. We don't care about any parlor trick math or terminology.
I've attached a spreadsheet that I think can be viewed as a very credible source for tax data.
If you have a source of credible data that says otherwise, please point me to it so I can tie up these loose ends.
Mr. Chair, the link below dispels the fake new about Alachua County having lower taxes than its neighboring counties.
https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.tax-rates.org/florida/alachua_county_property_tax__;!!LGX2LR-tWgttPq0!Tw8dFCQjC34DFNU7aT9hS6Hv3_IAND1I3HMZuqBT6pYvHFkP1WgXKhXrb4CuTAospus$
The average yearly property tax paid by Alachua County residents amounts to about 3.25% of their yearly income. Alachua County is ranked 477th of the 3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
The average yearly property tax paid by Marion County residents amounts to about 2.92% of their yearly income. Marion County is ranked 645th of the
3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
The average yearly property tax paid by Gilchrist County residents amounts to about 1.98% of their yearly income. Gilchrist County is ranked 1450th of the 3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
The average yearly property tax paid by Bradford County residents amounts to about 1.76% of their yearly income. Bradford County is ranked 1690th of the 3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
The average yearly property tax paid by Levy County residents amounts to about 1.82% of their yearly income. Levy County is ranked 1616th of the
3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
The average yearly property tax paid by Putnam County residents amounts to about 1.99% of their yearly income. Putnam County is ranked 1443rd of the
3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
The average yearly property tax paid by Duval County residents amounts to about 2.41% of their yearly income. Duval County is ranked 1041st of the
3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
The average yearly property tax paid by Leon County residents amounts to about 2.45% of their yearly income. Leon County is ranked 1013th of the
3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
The average yearly property tax paid by Suwannee County residents amounts to about 1.93% of their yearly income. Suwannee County is ranked 1496th of the 3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
The average yearly property tax paid by Palm Beach County residents amounts to about 4.32% of their yearly income. Palm Beach County is ranked 166th of the 3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
The average yearly property tax paid by Broward County residents amounts to about 4.35% of their yearly income. Broward County is ranked 159th of the 3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
The average yearly property tax paid by Miami-Dade County residents amounts to about 4.67% of their yearly income. Miami-Dade County is ranked 111th of the 3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income.
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