Florida panel reviews property-tax relief process after disasters; staff details timelines, past reimbursements

The Committee on Finance and Tax heard a presentation on property-tax relief for catastrophic events and the refund process Tuesday, with Department of Revenue staff outlining deadlines, eligibility and how local taxing authorities may be reimbursed.

The department’s Lisette Kelly, property tax oversight, Office of the Department of Revenue, told the committee that recent statutory changes give homestead owners five years to begin rebuilding after a catastrophic event and preserve homestead exemption while a damaged property remains the taxpayer’s homestead. "So you have 5 years to deal with the legal, insurance, zoning, design, anything that you need in order to get the the rebuild started after a catastrophic event," Kelly said.

Kelly summarized other statutory timelines and protections: nonresidential and certain non-homestead residential parcels retain a three-year period to begin restoration without losing assessment caps; a rebuild generally must remain within 110% of the original footprint or the assessment cap resets; agricultural properties may receive up to five years to restore commercial agricultural activity under the agricultural classification protections enacted after past storms.

Kelly described the catastrophic-refund application process established in statute: taxpayers file by March 1 with the property appraiser, who must approve or deny by April 1; the appraiser sends approved forms to the tax collector, which verifies timely tax payment before issuing a refund. If a taxpayer files before their tax due date, the tax collector may hold the refund until payment is timely, Kelly said. The department then receives summaries from tax collectors with counts, dollar totals and affected taxing authorities.

The department also outlined how legislative reimbursement of local governments works. In earlier reimbursements following hurricanes Ian and Nicole the legislature appropriated $35,000,000 to reimburse taxing authorities; for the later, statewide catastrophic-refund statute the last legislative appropriation for reimbursements to fiscally constrained counties was $200,000. Kelly said roughly $32 million in refunds were reported from the Ian/Nicole period and about 27,000 individual property owners applied; in the later, smaller footprint storm (Adalia), the department recorded about 195 applications in the counties eligible for reimbursement.

Kelly noted administrative timing can complicate legislative reimbursement decisions because tax collectors are not required to submit their full summaries to the department until September 1. To assist the legislature, the department said it can reach out to appraisers and tax collectors after the original due dates to estimate claims and required funding if the Legislature requests that analysis.

Senators asked operational questions. Senator Kelli Stargel Bernard asked whether owners could use portability of homestead benefits instead of rebuilding; Kelly said taxpayers may apply for portability through their local property appraiser’s office and offered to follow up with details. Senator Bernard also asked how property appraisers and tax collectors notify residents; Kelly said appraisers mail notices, staff booths at FEMA and Red Cross sites, run public-service announcements and assist applicants with the DR-465 form, while tax collectors inform constituents when they pay taxes and refer them to appraisers.

Kelly closed by offering the department’s help in reviewing the process and producing suggestions for the session. The committee also announced a follow-up presentation on property taxation in general during the first week of session. Senator Gruters moved to adjourn; the motion was adopted without objection.