New Construction Helps Stabilize Orange Property Tax Rolls
Monday, June 4, 2012
By: Tom Parkinson

June 4, 2012 | WMFE - Orange County Property Appraiser Bill Donegan says new home and business construction added $793 million dollars to the 2012 tax roll. Donegan released his annual "Best Estimate" today. Contractors built new hotels and restaurants, office buildings and apartment complexes. Construction also started on more than 22 hundred new homes, the most since 2008.

The overall estimate of taxable value for the county in 2012 is about the same as last year but after four years of decline, economic analyst Hank Fishkind says, that’s good news. 
 “It means that property values now have stabilized so property tax revenues will stop falling and our local governments will be able to maintain the level of services they are now providing without having to raise millage rates.”
Fishkind says the increase in revenue from new construction offset home and land values that are still in decline.
The gains were uneven across the county with some cities seeing a considerable depreciation in the taxable value of property.
Property values in Apopka lost nearly 2 billion dollars worth of taxable value and Eatonville’s property values dropped by almost 176 million.
Fishkind says that mirrors Florida’s economy. “The recovery is very uneven with Miami-Dade having much more growth, Tampa doing somewhat better, Orlando somewhere in the middle and other areas not doing nearly so well.”
Property Appraiser Bill Donegan says cities such as Eatonville, Apopka, Ocoee and Winter Park did not see significant new construction while existing buildings continued to age and depreciate in value.