The County Property Appraiser is an elected official charged with the duty and responsibility to appraise all of the
property in Collier County. This includes real estate and tangible personal property (the equipment, machinery and
fixtures) of businesses. The Property Appraiser prepares the tax roll,
but does not collect taxes or determine tax rates.
What are the Property Appraiser's Duties?
The County Property Appraiser is required by law to assess all property within the county each January
1st. This task is closely monitored by the Florida Department of Revenue who, by law, establish rules and
regulations that must be followed by the Property Appraiser.
In Collier County
this means that the Property Appraiser is determining the market value for over 200,000 individual parcels of land
and the buildings, including thousands of acres of citrus, pasture and farm land, as well as thousands of tangible
personal property accounts.
The Property Appraiser does not create
value. He reflects the market sales activity between willing buyers and sellers.
In addition to appraising
property, the Property Appraiser must administer homestead exemptions, determine property entitled to capped
assessments, agricultural classification, determine the eligibility of certain
religious, charitable, educational and municipal property for tax exemption, as well as administer widow, widower's
and disability exemptions. The Property appraiser also maintains current and up to date legal descriptions and
ownership tax maps of all the real property in Collier County.
Why Appraised Values change from Year-to-Year
As market value changes so does the appraised value. For instance, if a swimming pool were added to a property the
value of that property would increase, and likewise the appraised value of the property would increase also. If a
detached garage were removed from the property the market value of that
property could decrease.
The economy of the community affects the appraised value. Each year the county is
re-appraised in order to reflect the proper market value and comply with Florida Statutes. If the economy is strong,
it may result in increased property values. Conversely, if the economy
is weak, those real estate values may decrease.
The Property Appraiser does not create market value. It is
created by supply and demand for property through buying and selling transactions. The Property Appraiser has the
responsibility to discover this value as it exists and appraise the property
accordingly.