The Property Appraiser is an elected county officer, as established by Article VIII of the Constitution of the State of Florida. Her duty is to determine the value of all property within the county, including improved and vacant real property, tangible personal property, and agricultural property. The Property Appraiser is also responsible for maintaining property ownership records and parcel ownership maps, and for administering tax exemptions such as homestead exemption, widows, widowers, blind exemptions, and disability and non-profit exemptions.
The Property Appraiser’s office is not a division or a department of the Board of County Commissioners. Her authority comes from the Florida Statutes as administered by the Governor and Cabinet. The Florida Department of Revenue is charged with the oversight of the Property Appraiser’s operations, and performs biennial in-depth audits of the integrity of valuations.
The Property Appraiser does not set tax rates, nor does she have the authority or power to reduce or raise the amount of tax which is owed on a particular property. The tax rates which are levied against each property are determined annually by several different taxing authorities.