Amendment 11 passes with unanimous support at Jan. 4 MCBOCC meeting

Commissioner Michelle Stone is shown during a Marion County Commission meeting in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, March 16, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.

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Posted January 5, 2022 | By James Blevins
james@ocalagazette.com

The Marion County Board of County Commissioners (MCBOCC) voted unanimously to support tax relief for long term, low-income citizens over the age of 65, passing Amendment 11 at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 4.

Marion County becomes the 16^th county in Florida to offer the tax exemption to its residents, according to the County’s press release.

The amendment, granting additional tax exemptions for seniors provided certain requirements are met, first passed Florida legislature in 2012, and gave counties and municipalities the ability to grant the exemption.

Residents who wish to apply to for the exemption must meet the following criteria: their property value must be less than $250K; property owner must have maintained permanent residency on the property for no less than 25 years; property owner is age 65 or older; and property owner has a low household income, as defined by general law.

The income limitation amount for 2021 is $31,100, according to the Florida Department of Revenue.

Before presenting the amendment on the agenda for the meeting, Marion County performed extensive research on the impact the exemption would have on both the county and its residents.

According to county documents attached to the agenda item, the County provided an estimated impact based upon 10 percent (10%) of Marion County residents within each taxing district meeting the state requirements for eligibility. This estimate is higher than the actual numbers for the municipalities of Belleview and McIntosh, which have adopted an additional tax exemption of $25,000 via Amendment 11.

More than 8,700 parcels in unincorporated Marion County were found to meet the first three criteria for the exemption, and per information from the Property Appraiser’s office, it was estimated that 10% of those parcels would meet the income threshold, eliminating $29,953,972 of taxable value.

This equates, according to county documents, to a reduction in County revenue of $132,397 in the General Fund; $92,451 in the Law Enforcement MSTU Fund; $28,032 in the EMS Fund; and $2,528 across the Rainbow Lakes Estates, Marion Oaks, Silver Springs Shores and Hills of Ocala MSTUs.

The maximum impact, if every parcel met the income threshold, would be a $1.3 million loss in revenue for the County, per county documents.

During the Tuesday meeting, Commissioner Michelle Stone wished for some clarity from the county administrator, Mounir Bouyounes, concerning any potential negative impact of the tax relief on county departments and different taxing districts.

Bouyounes assured Stone that any affect would be minimal.

The county will next draft an ordinance that will be presented to the Board of County Commissioners at a publicly noticed meeting for adoption.

According to a press release issued by the county following the meeting, the plan is to have the additional exemption available to eligible residents for the 2023 tax year.