provided a local taxing authority brings a civil action in the circuit
court for the county in which relief is sought and the court finds that there
will be a substantial delay in the final determination of assessments, which
delay will substantially impair the ability of the authority to finance its
activities. Such action may be filed on or after July 1. Upon such a
determination, the court may order the use of the last approved roll, adjusted
to the extent practicable to reflect additions, deletions, and changes in
ownership, parcel configuration, and exempt status, as the interim roll when
the action was filed under paragraph (a), or may order the use of the current
roll as the interim roll when the action was filed under paragraph (b). When
the action was filed under paragraph (a), certification of value pursuant to
s. 200.065(1) shall be made immediately following such determination by the
court. When the action was filed under paragraph (b), the procedures required
under s. 200.065 shall continue based on the original certification of value.
However, if the property appraiser recommends that interim roll procedures be
instituted and the governing body of the county does not object and if
conditions of paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) apply, such civil action shall
not be required. The property appraiser shall notify the department and each
taxing authority within his or her jurisdiction prior to instituting interim
roll procedures without a court order.
(2) The taxing authority shall, in its name as plaintiff,
initiate action for relief under this section by filing an "Application
for Implementation of an Interim Assessment Roll" in the circuit court. The
property appraiser and the executive director of the Department of Revenue
shall be named as the defendants when the action is filed. The court shall
set an immediate hearing and give the case priority over other pending cases.
When the disapproval of all or any part of the assessment roll is contested,
the court shall sever this issue from the proceeding and transfer it to the
Circuit Court in and for Leon County for a determination.
(3)
(a) If the court so finds as provided in subsection (1), the property
appraiser shall prepare and extend taxes against the interim assessment roll.
The extension of taxes shall occur within 60 days of disapproval of all or
part of the assessment roll, or by November 15, in the event that the
assessment roll has not been submitted to the department pursuant to s.
193.1142; however, in no event shall taxes be extended before the hearing and
notice procedures required in s. 200.065 have been completed.
(b) Upon authorization to use an interim assessment roll, the
property appraiser shall so advise the taxing units within his or her
jurisdiction. The millage rates adopted at the hearings held pursuant to s.
200.065(2)(d) shall be considered provisional millage rates and shall apply
only to valuations shown on the interim assessment roll. Such taxing units
shall certify such rates to the property appraiser.
(4) All provisions of law applicable to millage rates and
limitations thereon shall apply to provisional millage rates, except as
otherwise provided in this section.
(5) Upon extension, the property appraiser shall certify the
interim assessment roll to the tax collector and shall notify the tax
collector and the clerk of the circuit court that such roll is provisional and
that ultimate tax liability on the property is subject to a final
determination. The tax collector and the clerk of the circuit court shall be
responsible for posting notices to this effect in conspicuous places within
their respective offices. The property appraiser shall ensure that such
notice appears conspicuously on the printed interim roll.
(6) The tax collector shall prepare and mail provisional tax
bills to the taxpayers based upon interim assessments and provisional millage
rates, which bills shall be subject to all provisions of law applicable to the
collection and distribution of ad valorem taxes, except as otherwise provided
in this section. These bills shall be clearly marked
"PROVISIONAL THIS IS NOT A FINAL TAX BILL"; shall be accompanied by an
explanation of the possibility of a supplemental tax bill or refund based upon
the tax roll as finally approved, pursuant to subsection (7); and shall
further explain that the total amount of taxes collected by each taxing unit
shall not be increased when the roll is finally approved.
(7) Upon approval of the assessment roll by the executive
director, and after certification of the assessment roll by the value
adjustment board pursuant to s. 193.122(2), the property appraiser shall,
subject to the provisions of subsection (11), recompute each provisional
millage rate of the taxing units within his or her jurisdiction, so that the
total taxes levied when each recomputed rate is applied against the approved
roll are equal to those of the corresponding provisional rate applied against
the interim roll. Each recomputed rate shall be considered the official
millage levy of the taxing unit for the tax year in question. The property
appraiser shall notify each taxing unit as to the value of the recomputed or
official millage rate.
(8)
(a) Upon recomputation, the property appraiser shall extend taxes
against the approved roll and shall prepare a reconciliation between the
interim and approved assessment rolls. For each parcel, the reconciliation
shall show provisional taxes levied, final taxes levied, and the difference
thereof.
(b) The property appraiser shall certify such reconciliation to the
tax collector, unless otherwise authorized pursuant to paragraph (d), which
reconciliation shall contain sufficient information for the preparation of
supplemental bills or refunds.
(c) Upon receipt of such reconciliation, the tax collector shall
prepare and mail to the taxpayers either supplemental bills, due and
collectible in the same manner as bills issued pursuant to chapter 197, or
refunds in the form of county warrants. However, no bill shall be issued or
considered due and owing, and no refund shall be authorized, if the amount
thereof is less than $10. Approval by the Department of Revenue shall not be
required for refunds made pursuant to this section.
(d) However, the court, upon a determination that the amount to be
supplementally billed and refunded is insufficient to warrant a separate
billing or that the length of time until the next regular issuance of ad
valorem tax bills is similarly insufficient, may authorize the tax collector
to withhold issuance of supplemental bills and refunds until issuance of the
next year's tax bills. At that time, the amount due or the refund amount
shall be added to or subtracted from the amount of current taxes due on each
parcel, provided that the current tax and the prior year's tax or refund shall
be shown separately on the bill. Alternatively, at the option of the tax
collector, separate bills and statements of refund may be issued.
(e) Any tax bill showing supplemental taxes due or a refund due, or
any warrant issued as a refund, shall be accompanied by an explanatory notice
in substantially the following form:
NOTICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL BILL
OR REFUND
OF PROPERTY TAXES
Property taxes for (year) were based upon a temporary
assessment roll, to allow time for a more accurate determination of property
values. Reassessment work has now been completed and final tax liability for
(year) has been recomputed for each taxpayer. BY LAW, THE
REASSESSMENT OF PROPERTY AND RECOMPUTATION OF TAXES WILL NOT INCREASE THE
TOTAL AMOUNT OF TAXES COLLECTED BY EACH LOCAL GOVERNMENT. However, if your
property was relatively underassessed on the temporary roll, you owe
additional taxes. If your property was relatively overassessed, you will
receive a partial refund of taxes. If you have questions concerning this
matter, please contact your county tax collector's
office.
(9) Any person objecting to an
interim assessment placed on any
property taxable to him or her may request an informal conference with the
property appraiser, pursuant to s. 194.011(2), or may seek judicial review of
the interim property assessment. However, petitions to the value adjustment
board shall not be filed or heard with respect to interim assessments. All
provisions of law applicable to objections to assessments shall apply to the
final approved assessment roll. The department shall adopt by rule procedures
for notifying taxpayers of their final approved assessments and of the time
period for filing petitions.
(10)
(a) Delinquent provisional taxes on real property shall not be
subject to the delinquent tax provisions of chapter 197 until such time as the
assessment roll is reconciled, supplemental bills are issued, and taxes on the
property remain delinquent. However, delinquent provisional taxes on real
property shall accrue interest at an annual rate of 12 percent, computed in
accordance with s. 197.172. Interest accrued on provisional taxes shall be
added to the taxes, interest, costs, and charges due with respect to final
taxes levied. When interest begins to accrue on delinquent provisional taxes,
the property owner shall be given notice by first-class mail.
(b) Delinquent provisional taxes on personal property shall be
subject to all applicable provisions of chapter 197.
(11) A recomputation of millage rates under this section shall
not reduce or increase the total of all revenues available from state or local
sources to a school district or to a unit of local government as defined in
part II of chapter 218. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (7), the
provisional millage rates levied by a multicounty taxing authority against an
interim roll shall not be recomputed, but shall be considered the official or
final tax rate for the year in question; and the interim roll shall be
considered the final roll for each such taxing authority. Notwithstanding the
provisions of subsection (7), millage rates adopted by vote of the electors
pursuant to s. 9(b) or s. 12, Art. VII of the State Constitution shall not be
recomputed.
(12) The property appraiser shall follow a reasonable and
expeditious timetable in completing a roll in compliance with the requirements
of law. In the event of noncompliance, the executive director may seek any
judicial or administrative remedy available to him or her under law to secure
such compliance.
(13) For the purpose of this section, the terms "roll,"
"assessment roll," and "interim assessment roll" mean the rolls for
real, personal, and centrally assessed property.
(14) Chapter 120 shall not apply to this
section.
History: s. 1, ch. 80-261; s. 5, ch. 80-274; s. 7, ch. 82-208; ss. 2, 21, 34, 80,
ch. 82-226; ss. 206, 221, ch. 85-342; s. 139, ch. 91-112; s. 973, ch. 95-147;
s. 28, ch. 95-280.