School districts will face lower property values as they scramble to make their budgets, according to the latest tax roll forecasts released Tuesday that show taxable property values down about 4.5 percent from previous estimates.
A panel of economists from the Legislature and the governor’s office trimmed August estimates for taxable property used by public schools by $62.8 billion to $1.34 trillion in taxable value.
The September update by the revenue estimating conference negates gains forecast by the same panel last month.
Estimates of the statewide property tax roll are primarily used in the appropriations process to approximate the Required Local Effort, the minimum amount of local tax revenues school districts must levy.
“The conference was concerned that the foreclosure rate among residential properties in Florida remains high,” the panel said in a statement outlining its findings. “Foreclosures are expected to add more units to the supply of housing, furthering weakening average sales prices of homes currently on the market.”
Conferees predict that long-term taxable value is not likely to return to strong positive growth until at least 2014.
“Even though mortgage interest rates are low, banks are continuing to be cautious in facilitating credit to potential home buyers,” the panel concluded.
