September 1, 2010 Update

The Notice of Proposed Property Taxes was mailed out by the Escambia County Property Appraiser’s Office in August. Chris Jones did not include land value in the taxable value for 2010 as expected. The written opinion in the Navarre Beach case came out over 2 months after Judge Bergosh sided with the Santa Rosa County authorities on taxing land values. By that time, Chris Jones had already sent the Escambia County tax assessment roles to Tallahassee for approval. Once the written opinion was available, Jones opted not to change the tax roles to include tax on the land in 2010. Pensacola Beach leaseholders can expect to be taxed on the land value as well improvements in 2011, depending on the outcome of the appeal in the Navarre Beach case.

On August 27^th, the appellate brief was filed on behalf of residential leaseholders contesting taxation of improvements on Pensacola Beach. This is the last case involving taxation of improvements to make its way to the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. The other side will also file a brief with the Court. It is not anticipated that oral arguments in this case will be scheduled until some time in 2011. The case number for the Pensacola Beach case is 1D-10-2050. Progress of this case can be followed on the Online Docket at the First District Court’s web site www.1dca.org

Escambia County tax bills for 2010 will come out around November 1^st. Once again, our attorneys will file in the Escambia County Circuit Court to contest taxation of improvements for this tax year.

For those interested in the Navarre Beach land taxation case, Judge Gary Bergosh’s written opinion can be accessed here.

Link to pdf file à Accardo et. al. vs. Brown

A notice of appeal has also been filed in this case with the First District Court of Appeal. The Case Number for the Navarre Beach land taxation is 1D-10-4072.