Alachua County has become aware that citizens in the unincorporated area (and the Cities of Alachua, Archer, Hawthorne, and Waldo who participate in the Fire Assessment) have concerns about apparent increases in the Non-Ad Valorem section of their recently received 2018 Proposed Property Tax Truth in Millage (TRIM) Notice. Below, after the explanation, there is a video link demonstrating how to compare your actual 2017 and 2018 tax bills.
In the calendar year 2017, Alachua County made structural changes to how revenues are collected for certain services. Two property taxes were abolished: The Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU) Unincorporated and the MSTU Fire. Two assessments were added: The Stormwater Assessment and the Fire Assessment. The 2017 TRIM notice did not include the new assessments. These assessment notifications were done in separate letters.
The confusion this year lies at the bottom of the front page of the 2018 TRIM Notice, on the row entitled “TOTAL NON-AD VALOREM.” Taxpayers are seeing a large discrepancy between the amounts for 2017 and 2018. This is because the 2017 assessments are not included in the 2017 figure. They are included in the 2018 figure. To be clear, these assessments were paid in 2017 but were not on this year’s TRIM notice. This creates the inaccurate appearance of a large increase. The following video will assist you in understanding this issue.
Video Guide Comparing the 2017 and 2018 Tax Bill.
This confusion will be corrected on next year’s TRIM notice. We apologize for this confusion.
For more information, contact the Alachua County Communications Office at 352-374-5204.