We contacted the Tax Assessor's office while in escrow on our Grayton house, so we knew what the (new) taxes would be. We also knew the State and County particulars relative to taxation, since I am a native of that area. We obviously are aware of the increase in value of the properties in the South County. But no reasonable person would expect a County to reassess and levy a 58% increase in taxes in one tax year. It is a naive and even foolhardy thing to do, even if one can do it without fear of retribution. Walton County is certainly not the first place this has happened, and I can assure you that most places segue into these increases over a period of a few years. At the very least, they do not levy that kind of increase without more advance notification than this. Unfortunately, the mistake was compounded by current tax notifications being mailed out with the old assessment, which will alarm people receiving the corrected ones even more. It's my undertsanding that the revised tax bills are being mailed out today. We will appeal ours.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that this will hurt local residents with second homes there more than many others, whose properties are probably investment properties in the first place. Local people with a second home at the beach will not have homestead exemption and one cannot legally rent a home that has the exemption. We know a lot of people in DeFuniak who are renting homes that have been in their families for generations, just in order to pay their taxes as it is. Local people suffer first and hardest, because the backlash action doesn't occur soon enough to be a remedy for them. The real estate and tourism sectors also suffer immediately and those take longer to recover, even after a possible remedy action.
It isn't so much the extra $$$ from my perspective as it is the audacity of such a large increase in one year. I have never been a person who resents paying my taxes, so this is an unusual rant for me. But I also recognize a gouge when I see one and we know from our long residency in CA the kind of backlash this kind of thing invites. We also know that the short-term solution to an outrageous tax hike translates into a sad state of affairs for local and state government in the 5 to 10-year long-term scenario.
I agree that County employees probably should have their wages increased. I also recognize the need for beach restoration and infrastructure necessitated by all the building and tourism. But Walton County has gone from being a poor agricultural County to being an extremely wealthy one in a very short period of time. You will be very surprised when you take a look at the County budget. A 58% tax hike is not needed to accommodate things like these. Look at the disparity between South Walton property taxes and those in other parts of the County, and look at the bed tax and sales tax figures alone.
A note on impact fees for builders. Of course, the fees get passed along into the sale prices of new homes. They are developers, not philanthropists. But impact fees are little more than a piggy bank, not solutions. When we talk about new development "paying its own way," we mean developers building roads or paying a traffic volume-generated equivalent fee for new highway construction. We mean developers putting in parks and creek/stream/beach protection and restoration projects. We mean development financing the cost of new bicycle trails and pedestrian paths. Otherwise, the costs for these things are shouldered by existing homeowners. Don't kid yourself. Development that does not assume some of the responsibility for local problems and amenities is just hit-and-run obscene profit for the developer.
Workforce or affordable housing is never done by impact fee, because it is never enough to actually build this housing. There has to be an inclusionary requirement for all new development, where new developments/subdivisions are required to include say, 15% of their units built as "affordable" units. This means "for sale" units that are available only to qualifying low-to-moderate income segment of that particular County. In areas such as South Walton and the Napa Valley, where we live, the only reasonable way to provide long-term workforce or affordable housing for service workers is by providing rental apartments or even dormitory housing for seasonal workers (like they do in Vail, CO). Dorms are provided by the major employers.
Just some thoughts as to why the County does not need to slam a 58% tax increase onto property owners without homestead exemption, just because they think they can do it with retribution. The retribution may not be in the form of election results, but more far reaching for the entire County. Walton County is sending an alarming message to their real estate and tourism sectors. That's the goose, guys. (And sorry for such a long rant. I just hate to see a dynamic unfolding there when I know firsthand its implications for the long-term economic viability of the area.)
Pigs get fat...hogs get slaughtered.