Could you please give the rest of us a short course on homestead recapture?
Patrick Pilcher explains it best. But in a nutshell...if you've been enjoying the 3% cap on the increase in your home's assessed value while everyone else's (or, other properties you may own) market value skyrocketed to ridiculous levels, by law, your assessed value should continue to move toward your market value. Even though the market value on our homes has decreased considerably, for most of us it is still quite a bit more than our assessed value, so while our market value is falling, our assessed values will continue to increase by a rate of 3% or less until the two values meet.
When the market value falls below the assessed value, if ever, THEN you can expect a decrease in the tax bill on your home.
Also remember that the tax bills are based on historical value (it is our 2009 bills that are due now, and they are based on data from late 2008) and that, naturally, improvements to your home will bump you up against the cap immediately.
I should have sold out and retired, but I wanted Squirt to attend school in South Walton and I wanted to fish and see sunsets in my front yard. Oh well...