Revisions by the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office to preliminary taxable property values released earlier this year show that those valuations have increased in all cities and towns in southeastern Palm Beach County.
Property Appraiser Dorothy Jacks releases two sets of numbers each year, with the first estimates reported in May. The numbers are updated as the office refines them and finalizes the additions of properties to the tax roll before they are sent to the state at the end of June.
The office’s data released on June 26 shows that Palm Beach County-wide taxable property values increased by 8.2%, up from May’s estimate of 7.7%.
The total market value of county properties now is $528.8 billion. New construction added to the tax roll was nearly $5.5 billion, the second year in a row that new construction topped $5 billion.
In southeastern Palm Beach County, the largest upward change was in Briny Breezes, jumping from a 9.5% increase to 10%. Delray Beach moved from 8.3% to 8.7% and Lantana increased from 6.4% to 6.8%.
South Palm Beach was an outlier this year, seeing a 0.62% decrease — the first such year-to-year drop for a county municipality since 2013. The updated numbers still show a drop, but reduced to 0.21%.
South Palm Beach Town Manager Jamie Titcomb has attributed the decrease to the town’s aging condos that must comply with laws enacted after a Surfside condo’s collapse in 2021. The resulting higher maintenance fees and special assessments have prompted potential buyers to seek price reductions.
Local governments use taxable values to calculate how much property tax money they can expect. They then set their annual budgets and tax rates.
— Mary Hladky
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