Duties of the Appraiser – Hendry County Property Appraiser

Duties of the Appraiser

The Hendry County Property Appraiser is charged with the responsibility of creating a fair and equitable tax roll, both for real and personal property, for tax purposes; the taxing authorities (Board of County Commissioners, School Board, Hospital Authority, City Council, Water Management) set the tax rate for all property and therefore the amount of taxes to be assessed. The Property Appraiser’s Office is not a division of the County Commission, rather, is an elected office that receives its authority from the Florida Statutes. The Florida Department of Revenue is charged with the oversight and review of the operations of this office and performs in-depth audits of the tax rolls every two years to determine the integrity of the assessments.

The Property Appraiser’s office uses nationally recognized appraisal systems and a Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) system to gather, store and analyze the data necessary to arrive at a fair market value for each parcel of property in Hendry County. Actual sales prices of like properties in similar neighborhoods are a key component of the data needed by the skilled and professionally trained appraisers who assist the Property Appraiser in analyzing the real estate marketplace and evaluating your property.  In reality, the market value is determined by the buyers and sellers.

Exemptions and Capping

Other responsibilities of the Property Appraiser include the administration of exemptions(homestead, widows, seniors, disability, and many others), maintenance of property ownership records, and maintaining aerial photographs.It is the duty of the PropertyAppraiser to ensure all Homestead parcels are capped at 3% or CPI(Consumer PriceIndex).An added responsibility came into effect in 2009, with the provision that limits the increase in the annual assessment of Non-Homesteaded properties to 10%.As long as ownership does not change, the cap will apply.

Mapping Services

The Property Appraiser is also responsible for a wide range of mapping services.Maintaining current maps is a key part of the entire appraisal process. Your PropertyAppraiser exerts tremendous energy to ensure that changes in Hendry County are quickly reflected in the County maps. These maps are available for use by County and municipal agencies, commercial users and others who have a need to see a graphic representation of Hendry County.

Emergency Services

The Property Appraiser’s Office is part of theEmergency Management DamageAssessment Team.After local/state emergencies, they are the first responders charged with gathering an accurate assessment of the damages caused to homes, businesses, and infrastructure.This data is reported to local and state agencies as well as FEMA so that the necessary aid can be allocated.