Opinion ID: 437358
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the florida system of ad valorem taxation

Text: 8 To ensure uniformity of assessments across the state, Florida appraisers are required to assess property at 100% of just value. Burns v. Butscher, 187 So.2d 594 (Fla.1966). The requirement of statewide uniformity is more a goal than a compellable right, Spooner v. Askew, 345 So.2d 1055, 1059 (Fla.1976). In Florida, as in other states, chronic undervaluation has long plagued the decentralized system of county property appraisal. See generally Hudson, Florida's Property Appraisers, 7 Nova L.Rev. 477 (1983); Wershow & Schwartz, Ad Valorem Assessments in Florida--Recent Developments, 36 U.Miami L.Rev. 67 (1981). In recent years the Florida legislature has moved to redress the problem by vesting the Department with supervisory authority over local appraisers. County property appraisers are required by statute to submit all assessment rolls to the Department for annual review. Fla.Stat.Ann. Sec. 193.114(5) (1971) (current version at Fla.Stat.Ann. Sec. 193.1142(1) (1982)). Rolls that deviate from just value risk Department disapproval. Id.; id. Sec. 195.002. In addition, the Department periodically conducts in-depth statistical studies to determine whether particular county appraisers persist in departing from the requirement of appraisal at just value. Id. Sec. 195.096. The in-depth reviews round out an arsenal of weapons available to monitor errant property appraisers. See Wershow & Schwartz, supra, at 80-81. 9 In an in-depth study, as in an annual review, the Department makes its own estimates of appraisals and compares its results to those reached by county officials. A sales assessment ratio survey is an essential part of any in-depth review. Such a survey compares the aggregate values assessed on a county-by-county basis for broad classes of property with actual sales prices of comparable property, as gleaned from public records. 10 The stipulations of full market value arrived at in this case report the results of the Department's sales assessment ratio survey for the 1980 tax year. To arrive at just value, the Department reduced these figures by 13% to 21% to allow for costs of sales under criterion 8. The effect of this across-the-board allowance was to reduce disparities between locally assessed values and prevailing market values computed under the Department's sales assessment ratio survey, resulting in Department approval of county rolls that assessed non-rail property at 13% to 21% below full market value.