Property appraiser briefs Wellington on 2025 value gains and potential $12.9M hit from proposed homestead exemption bill

Cecil Jackson, chief appraiser with the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office, told the Wellington Village Council on April 27 that Wellington’s final 2025 taxable value increased to just over $13.2 billion, an approximate 6.62% year‑over‑year gain, and that the village’s tax base remains heavily anchored in owner‑occupied residential parcels.

"About 62% of the properties you have here are homesteaded properties," Jackson said, explaining that homestead exemptions and other statutory deductions reduce the taxable base relative to market value.

Jackson described three remaining House proposals tracked by the appraiser’s office and shared modeled first‑year impacts on Wellington’s local non‑school revenue: House Bill 201 (a constitutional amendment modeled to exempt many homesteads from non‑school ad valorem taxes) could reduce local revenue by roughly $12.9 million; House Bill 205 (a full exemption for homesteads owned by permanent residents aged 65+) was modeled at about a $5.2 million reduction; and House Bill 209 (an insurance‑based $100,000 reduction for qualifying homeowners) was modeled at about a $2.9 million reduction. "All these proposals do not eliminate school taxes, fire or police," Jackson said, underscoring that those levies would still require funding.

Jackson cautioned that these figures are estimates and that the bills remain under consideration. Council members and staff asked clarifying questions about bill status; Jackson said none of the three had taken a clear lead in the Legislature as of the workshop and that some proposals have already been dropped from their tracking dashboard.

Jackson and staff also discussed how exemptions and special classifications—especially agricultural designations—can make market value and taxable value diverge, and how Wellington’s high share of homesteads concentrates fiscal risk: if homesteads were widely exempted, the tax burden would likely shift to non‑homesteaded property classes (commercial, multifamily, rentals), a shift Jackson said owners would likely pass through to tenants.

Staff noted timing considerations for budgeting: preliminary tax‑roll numbers for 2026 were expected in late May, but any constitutional or statutory changes that might appear on a ballot would not take effect until the following tax year. Jackson recommended that local officials monitor developments and consider reserve strategies and scenario planning to address potential revenue deltas.

Next steps: staff will circulate the appraiser’s modeling dashboard and continue monitoring legislative activity; the council will review budget scenarios in upcoming workshops.