Tax bills to include extensions for discounts
Starting next week, tax bills will be mailed out by the Lee County Tax Collector’s Office for the 2022 period. There will be payment extensions available for property owners whose homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, as well as an extension on discounts for all property owners.
The Lee County Tax Collector’s Office announced extensions for all property taxpayers for the 4% discount for those who pay their 2022 tax bills before Dec. 31 and a 2% discount for those who pay in February and 1% in March before the March 31 deadline.
For those whose homes were rendered uninhabitable or destroyed, the deadline for tax payments will be extended to May 31. In addition to the 4% discounts through Dec. 31, those property owners will also be eligible for a 3% discount for taxes paid in January, 2% for taxes paid in February and 1% for March, according to Lee County Tax Collector Noelle Branning.
To qualify for the additional extensions, property owners whose homes or businesses were uninhabitable or destroyed must notify the Lee County Property Appraiser’s Office of the damage. The office can be contacted through its website at Leepa.org. Property owners can provide detailed explanations of the damage and length of time their property has been uninhabitable or if it has been totaled.
“We want everybody to contact us at our website and upload photos. We want to have it processed as soon as possible,” Lee County Property Appraiser Matthew Caldwell said.
“The communication is critical to the process,” Branning said. “We really need property owners to be communicating with the property appraiser’s office so they know what the overall community impact looks like.”
The property appraiser will also be reassessing properties in January and will be using information provided from property owners of damage from Hurricane Ian. Caldwell said property owners who suffered damage during Hurricane Ian should notify the department of hurricane damage regardless of whether the property was left uninhabitable in order to update assessments.
The relief is part of declarations made by Gov. Ron DeSantis through an executive order last month regarding property tax relief for those in counties most impacted by Hurricane Ian.
DeSantis has stated a special session will be called next month for additional property tax relief. That special session could include further tax relief. Property owners whose home or business was uninhabitable for 30 days or more due to Hurricane Ian, could receive a property tax refund of up to an amount equal to three months, Caldwell said.
Caldwell said his office will be following up with property owners who are seeking the discounts and extensions for homes reported to be uninhabitable or destroyed. Aerial photographs taken by his office will aid in the process through Caldwell acknowledged that his office won’t be able to tell in all cases from the photographs if there was water or flooding damage inside without property owners alerting his office.
The state currently has a statute on the books that will go into effect next year to provide tax relief for those whose properties were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by a catastrophic event.
Branning and Caldwell said the state legislature could make that retroactive to this year to provide tax relief, as DeSantis has requested.
Branning said tax bills will be mailed out on Nov. 23 and property owners should expect to receive them after Thanksgiving. The bills will also have mailers explaining details and instructions regarding the payment extensions and discounts.
The Lee County Property Appraiser’s Office can also be reached at 239-533-6100.
To reach NATHAN MAYBERG, please email nmayberg@breezenewspapers