Duval County property-owners will pay more in taxes. Here's how much and why.

Duval County property owners will pay more when they get this year's tax bills, mainly because this is the first year a voter-approved property tax for teacher salaries kicks in.

While the Duval County Public School's portion of the property tax bill is going up, some government entities are rolling back their tax rates. Atlantic Beach, Baldwin, the St. Johns River Water Management District and the Florida Inland Navigation District all dropped their tax rates.

The cities of Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach and Neptune Beach kept the same tax rate they used last year.

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Here's how the dust settled on the tax rates for different entities. When all the millage rates are added up, property-owners in Jacksonville Beach will pay taxes at the highest combined rate while the total rate will be lowest for property within the city limits of Atlantic Beach.

What is the tax impact of raising pay for teachers?

Duval County voters approved a referendum in August 2022 that puts in place a 1 mill property tax increase, which is $1 in property taxes for each $1,000 of taxable property value. The referendum, approved by 53% of voters, generates money for boosting teacher pay and enhancing arts and athletics programs.

The total millage for Duval County Public Schools for the 2023-24 budget is 6.431 mills. It is the first time in a decade that the school district has had a year-over-year millage increase.

The district's tax rate, which is largely controlled by the state, was 7.6 mills in 2012 and it went down each year to 5.484 mills in 2022. That run of steady decreases benefitted property-owners at tax time, but the trend went the other way this year.

How does the city of Jacksonville's tax rate factor into tax bills?

In contrast to the school district over the past decade, the city of Jacksonville increased its tax rate from 10.0353 mills in 2012 up to 11.4419 mills in 2013 and kept it there until last year when the city slightly decreased it to 11.3169 mills.

The 2023-24 budget approved Tuesday by City Council will keep that tax rate of 11.3169 mills for a second year in a row. Maintaining the same millage rate will generate a record-high amount of property taxes for the city because the strong real estate market has continued to expand the city's tax base. No City Council member moved to reduce the tax rate as part of enacting the 2023-24 budget.

What are the tax rates for the Beaches cities and Baldwin?

The city of Jacksonville's tax rate covers the entire county except for Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach and Baldwin. Property-owners in those four cities pay pay taxes to the city of Jacksonville and also to their respective governments.

For the three Beaches cities, the city of Jacksonville's tax rate is 8.0262 mills for each of them.

On top of that, Jacksonville Beach decided to set its tax rate at 3.9947 mills and Neptune Beach set its at 3.3656 mills. In both cases, the tax rate for those two cities is the same as it was in 2022.

Atlantic Beach took a different path by cutting its tax rate to the rollback rate, which is what will collect the same amount of property taxes this year as last year after accounting for growth in the tax base generated by new construction. The Atlantic Beach City Commission set this year's tax rate at 2.841 mills, down from 3.1035 mills in 2022.

"This is just a particularly unusual time when people are feeling the pressure, especially coastal communities, because of insurance and flood insurance and roof costs — everything is hitting our citizens," Atlantic Beach Mayor Curtis Ford said.

The town of Baldwin also cut its tax rate to the rollback rate. For Baldwin, the portion of the tax rate set by the city of Jacksonville will be 9.526 mills for the second year in a row. The portion of the tax bill controlled by the town will be 2.0897 mills, down from 2.3732 mills last year.

What will the St. Johns River Water Management District's rate be?

The St. Johns River Water Management District, which covers all or part of 19 counties, went to the rollback rate for the 11th year in row. The district's millage rate was 0.3313 in 2012 and has gone down every year since then. This year, the tax rate will be 0.1793 mills.

The Florida Inland Navigation District, which covers counties up and down the Atlantic coast, also went to the rollback rate. This year's rate will be 0.0288 mills.

What part of Duval County has the highest total property tax rate?

Jacksonville Beach property-owners will pay the highest total tax rate of 18.666 mills when the rates for the school district, city of Jacksonville, city of Jacksonville Beach, St. Johns River Water Management District and Florida Inland Navigation District are combined for a single tax bill. That translates to $1,866 per $100,000 of taxable property value.

Atlantic Beach will have the lowest combined tax rate in Duval County at 17.5063 mills, equating to $1,750 per $100,000 of taxable value.

Among other parts of the county, Baldwin property-owners will have a combined rate of 18.2548 mills ($1,825 per $100,000), Neptune Beach will have a total rate of 18.0309 ($1,803 per $100,000), and the rest of Duval County will have a combined rate of 17.956 mills ($1,796 per $100,000).

What is the impact of Save Our Homes this year?

The millage rate is one part of the equation that calculates what a property-owners owes in taxes. The other factor is the taxable property value and how it changes each year.

The real estate market has caused market values to climb. But the state Save Our Homes law limits the rise in assessed value for tax purposes to no more than 3% or the inflation rate, whichever is less, for homes whose owners obtained homestead exemptions. This year, the 3% limit applies.

Another state law limits the year-over-year rise for non-homestead properties to 10% so they don't have the same buffer that homeowners get from increasing values.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: The start of a one-mill tax for Duval County teacher salaries is the biggest re