Cape Coral

Real Estate Taxes

                From the City of Cape Coral Government:      

Cape Coral Property Values Soar 27.2 Percent

Cape Coral’s taxable property values jumped 27 percent in the past year to $9.285 billion, according to preliminary estimates from the Lee County Property Appraiser’s office.  The percentage probably will increase when the final numbers are received in July.  This was the fourth year of double-digit increases for the city and the largest this year among the taxing jurisdictions in Lee County.  In the past four years, Cape Coral's taxable value has increased 90 percent. The taxable value of new construction in the booming city increased nearly 50 percent to $537.386 million.  Taxable values are multiplied by the tax rate, also known as the "millage rate," to compute property taxes for property owners.  City taxes go up if the City’s tax rate stays the same; however, any tax increase can be minimized if the tax rate is reduced. The property tax bill also includes property taxes levied by Lee County, the school district, state and other jurisdictions. Cape Coral collected almost $40 million last year in property taxes. A 27 percent increase would raise almost $11 million.  Property tax revenues are part of the General Fund budget, which is about $90 million for 2003-04.  "The growth that created this increase in values also will generate additional demands for City services," said City Manager Terry Stewart.  "The higher taxable values will help the City with its budget, but the staff is not changing the plans it already has for the budget." “We don’t go back and dream up new ways to spend money,” he said.

Okay, there's not many pictures on this page, and a lot to read... but this is a very important topic that many customers are very confused about and we as Realtors get asked many many questions about.  So here goes:

Cape Coral Real Estate Taxes are based on the price you pay for the property.  This determines the assessed value, which is multiplied by the current millage rate (now about 22 mils), and this is your new tax rate.

Now, if you Homestead in Florida, a couple of things happen... 

First of all, Homestead is defined as the Florida home being your primary residence.  To claim homestead, you must have a valid Florida Driver's License, a Florida Voter's Registration card, the original recorded deed for the property and one of your vehicles must be registered in Florida (carrying Florida tags and insurance).  You cannot have any other Homestead property in Florida, or in any other state.  And you must claim the Homestead before January 1 in order to get the Homestead Tax Exemption for the coming year.

Once the claim is done, your tax rate is still assessed the same way, based on your purchase price.  But you get to subtract $25,000 from the assessed value before they calculate the mil rate.  Then, the really great thing is that as long as you stay in that Homestead home, your taxes cannot increase more than roughly 3% every year (in Florida this is called the "Save Our Homes" or SOH Amendment, enacted years ago to limit the tax increases for full-time residents in Florida). 

But if you Homestead elsewhere and still maintain ownership, the increase limit no longer applies and you will be charged the fully calculated millage rate on the current assessed value of the house every year. 

So while you are looking for a new home, it is important to know the tax millage rates, but do not look to the current owners taxes... that is what they pay, and will have absolutely no bearing on what your taxes will be for that same house if you purchased it.

Realtors have tools available to us to give you an approximate calculation of what your taxes would be for a specific home.