Recap of August 26th Mount Dora budget meeting

Most of us received our TRIM notice for Ad Valorem (property taxes) in the mail from the Lake County Taxing Authority last week. This notice never fails to raise the collective blood pressures of property owners because it shows the highest possible tax rates from Lake County, Lake County Schools, Mount Dora, St. Johns River Management District, etc.

Florida law requires all taxing authorities to state their maximum millage rates for the upcoming tax year in mid-July. I can't speak for the other taxing entities and I don't speak for the City of Mount Dora, but we tend to guess high because at that early date we don't have all the data needed to pin down our eventual millage rate. It's easy to reduce that maximum proposed millage rate, but next to impossible to increase it.

To comply with the law and meet the State's timeline, on July 16 Mount Dora City Council set our maximum millage rate for Fiscal Year 2024-25 at 6.6 mills, well up from our FY 2023-24 millage rate of 5.9603 mills. That's the rate you saw in your TRIM. We anticipated that a millage increase would be needed but hoped that we could eventually settle on a lower number.

After our Budget Work Session last night, it appears to me that our eventual final millage rate will be 6.3 mills which was our pre-Covid millage rate. If that's the case, a Mount Dora homeowner who has a Homestead Exemption, and whose home has a market value of $344,000 (average home market value) will see an increase of about $151 in their Mount Dora real estate taxes next fiscal year. That's an increase of about $12.59 per month. Of course, your house may be worth more or less.

Please keep in mind that I have no idea what other taxing authorities will need to pay their bills. Their final tax rates won't go up any higher than what was on your TRIM notice and they might go down from that maximum millage rate.

I think it goes without saying that crafting the City's budget is one of the most important things City Council does and that collectively, we take that responsibility very seriously.  The final vote will be held during our September 17 City Council Meeting.

With college football season kicking off (pun intended) I've selected a quote from Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

"When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: 1. Admit it. 2. Learn from it. 3. Don't repeat it."

Thanks for allowing me to represent District 4 and serve as your Vice-mayor.

by Marc Crail
Mount Dora Vice Mayor and District 4 Representative

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