Zephyrhills property owners won’t see an increase in their ad valorem tax rate for fiscal year 2021-2022.
The city council on July 12 unanimously voted to set the tentative millage rate at 6.35 mills — a rate the municipality has maintained for several years.
Public hearings on the proposed property tax rate have been scheduled for Sept. 13 and Sept. 27, both at 6 p.m.
Under state law, once a tentative millage rate has been set, the city cannot raise it before the start of the fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The council does, however, have the option to reduce the rate before then.
A mill represents $1 in tax for every $1,000 worth of a property’s taxable assessed value.
In Zephyrhills, maintaining a rate of 6.35 mills would levy about $6,011,395 in property taxes — a revenue increase of $690,420 compared with last year, according to city records. (Aiming for a 95% collection rate, that’d be $5,710,925 compared to last year’s $5,054,922.)
The figures are based on the total city’s property value of $946,676,382, an increase of $103,363,254 over last year, according to the Pasco County Property Appraiser’s Office. Of that increase, $50,282,764 is attributable to new construction.
Zephyrhills Finance Director Ted Beason summarized the details during the meeting.
In other news, City Manager Billy Poe reported there was “very little impact” to the municipality when Hurricane Elsa touched down, aside from a lone city police vehicle that suffered flooding damage.
“We had one police vehicle that got flooded, unfortunately, but that was the only damage that was incurred. No trees were down, which was shocking,” Poe said.
Meanwhile, councilman Smith credited Zephyrhills Police Chief Derek Brewer and Zephyrhills Public Works Director Shane LeBlanc for being well-organized and prepared for the impending tropical storm.
Smith said of the two city department heads: “You already have your plans in place, you already know what you’re going to do, that’s why nobody was panicking. I knew you had already done this many, many times before, so thank you for your planning on it.”
Published July 28, 2021
