Broward County Property Appraiser Marty Carey told Deerfield Beach commissioners Aug. 5 that property values and taxable rolls in the city have risen and urged residents to review mailed notices and sign up for a county “owner alert” that notifies owners of title changes.

Carey said the county will mail Truth in Millage notices later in August that “every single resident of Deerfield Beach is gonna get” and urged residents who suspect an assessment error or missing exemptions to call his office by Sept. 17. He described two value measures: “market value” and “taxable value,” and said the taxable roll drives what local taxing authorities set with millage rates. Carey told the commission the city’s taxable value rose from about $11,258,000,000 in 2024 to about $12,146,000,000 — a 7.89% increase. He also said Deerfield’s proposed operating millage is about 6.0018, a rate that would yield an estimated $5,329,000 in additional revenue if adopted.

Why it matters: rising market and taxable values can increase tax receipts and alter homeowners’ assessed values. Carey explained that homestead exemptions and the Save Our Homes cap mean many long-term homeowners pay tax on lower assessed values than recent sale prices suggest; he said Deerfield has 17,983 homestead exemptions and described other targeted exemptions for low-income seniors and total-permanent-disability veterans.

Owner-alert program and title fraud: Carey also used his appearance to press residents to sign up for the county’s free owner-alert notification program, which he said has more than 300,000 Broward registrants and covers about 50% of Deerfield’s homesteaded property owners. Carey described a rise in deed- and probate-fraud schemes in South Florida and said his office has partnered with the county sheriff and state attorney to investigate and prosecute these crimes. He said legislative changes now exempt owner-alert contact information from public records — “the information that we collect for our owner alert program ... is exempt from public disclosure” — and that the county has used alerts to assemble criminal cases.

Examples and enforcement: Carey described instances in which fraudsters filed fake deeds or used Zoom-generated deepfakes to impersonate property owners in title and mortgage transactions. He said the county’s crimes-against-property team works with three Broward sheriff detectives and an assistant state attorney to bring criminal cases and that arrests, prosecutions and prison sentences have followed in some cases. Carey said he wants residents to sign up for alerts because “you can actually stop any fraud really before the fraud can really harm you.”

What residents should do: Carey urged anyone worried about valuations or missing exemptions to call his office by Sept. 17 and encouraged Deerfield homeowners to sign up for the owner-alert program so they receive email, text or mail notifications of title changes. He told commissioners and residents the program is free and now protected from public disclosure.

Ending note: Carey’s presentation emphasized both tax-administration steps residents can take to protect themselves from over-assessment and the county’s law-enforcement work to stop title fraud, and it prompted several commissioners to ask procedural questions about how alerts and judicial cooperation operate.