Revised Just Valuation Factors - Florida Property Taxes
Revisions to Just Valuation Factors
In 2008, the Florida Legislature revised section 193.011, Florida Statutes, effective September 1, 2008, prior to the preparation of the 2009 tax roll.
One change of particular interest to owners of commercial property is an amendment to the highest and best use criteria which required consideration of “the legally permissible use of the property” and “any zoning changes, concurrency requirements, and permits necessary to achieve the highest and best use” added to subsection (2) as follows:’
(2) The highest and best use to which the property can be expected to be put in the immediate future and the present use of the property, taking into consideration the legally permissible use of the property, including any applicable judicial limitation, local or state land use regulation, or historic preservation ordinance, and any zoning changes, concurrency requirements, and permits necessary to achieve the highest and best use, and considering any moratorium imposed by executive order, law, ordinance, regulation, resolution, or proclamation adopted by any governmental body or agency or the Governor when the moratorium or judicial limitation prohibits or restricts the development or improvement of property as otherwise authorized by applicable law.
Arguably, the legally permissible use criteria is broader than the enumerated criteria of “applicable judicial limitation, local or state land use regulation, or historic preservation ordinance” and the requirement that consideration be given to “any zoning changes, concurrency requirements, and permits necessary” introduces a cost/benefit or aspect to evaluating if permit could be obtained.
The 2008 amendment included a section 7 which states:
"[i]t is the express intent of the Legislature that a taxpayer shall never have the burden of proving that the property appraiser's assessment is not supported by any reasonable hypothesis of a legal assessment. It is the further intent of the Legislature that any cases of law published since 1997 applying the every-reasonable-hypothesis burden of proof to uphold the property appraiser's assessment are expressly rejected to the extent that they are interpretive of legislative intent."
Rather than codify this provision in a separate section, the Florida Statues added it as a footnote to section 193.011. The following is a link to the enacted bill is: http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/property/vabwb/08h909.pdf
The foregoing discussion is in summary form, and does not, and is not intended to, discuss all of the statutes, regulations and court opinions which affect matters included in the article. It is not intended as legal advice.