Friday, May 22, 2015

Property-value increase is Palm Beach County’s biggest in 10 years



The taxable value of property in Palm Beach County jumped by 8.7 percent over the past year, its biggest one-year increase in 10 years, according to early estimates released today by the Property Appraiser’s Office.

early estimates show property-value increases enjoyed by the county’s cities ranged from 32.3 percent for Riviera Beach to 1.2 percent for the tiny town of Glen Ridge.  The average growth for all cities is 9.4 percent, and most of the large cities are close to that number: Jupiter, Boynton Beach and Wellington all above 9 percent; Palm Beach Gardens at 7.3 percent; Royal Palm Beach at 10.7 percent and West Palm Beach at 11.5 percent.

“The overwhelming majority of the increase in Riviera Beach was from the power plant,” the Property Appraiser said. “Factor out the power plant, and their increase is probably around 9 to 10 percent.”

The county is poised, in the next year or two, to regain all of the property value losses of the Great Recession.  “If things continue as they have the past two years, that would be true,” Nikolits (Property Appraiser) said, “and I’m not seeing anything to indicate a substantial slowdown in the next year or so.”