Fort Pierce sees record tax roll increase

By ALEXI HOWK

The city will see a record 46.22 percent increase in its tax roll this year, a projection expected to be higher than any other municipality of similar size in the state, according to St. Lucie County Property Appraiser Jeff Furst.

Furst delivered the news about the preliminary tax roll during Monday night's City Commission meeting. Final numbers aren't expected to be revealed until July 1, the deadline to submit official tax rolls to the state.

"The numbers are just unbelievable," Furst said. "You had the most increase of any government body in this county, and probably in the state, and you did it in a year you took your (tax rate) back."

Earlier this month, Furst released conservative projections of 16 percent increases for Fort Pierce, the county and Port St. Lucie.

"Fort Pierce has never had these numbers," he said. "Now all of a sudden they've got the biggest numbers, and it's really a reflection in how they've done in terms of real estate. The talk years ago was 'Can they survive?'"

Last year's increase was 14.9 percent.

Furst wouldn't release final numbers for Port St. Lucie or the county until today, but he said he expects the county as a whole to have one of the highest increases in the state.

"If we can get our millage rate down, hopefully this year again, the business community will come back," Mayor Bob Benton said. "We can send a message to the county and bring businesses back."

Furst said Fort Pierce came out ahead of Port St. Lucie for the first time, primarily because Port St. Lucie has been running so strong, and it's difficult to sustain that level. A good tax roll increase is between 6 and 8 percent per year, he said.

"A business such as Wal-mart distribution center and an Outback is looking for vitality in a community," Furst said. "One way you measure this is rising values, not rising taxes."

Furst attributed the increase primarily to Fort Pierce's waterfront property values, but also to the city's commercial corridors along major roads. The revitalization of downtown has also played a key role in upping values, he said.

"It took a lot of guts to stay with the program, the whole redevelopment of downtown and older neighborhoods," Furst said. "Because the city was old, they suffered many problems. People left old areas and went to new areas outside the city limits. The tax base and job base went away. It takes a long time to change things."

When Furst was elected in 2000, the Port of Fort Pierce was valued at about $5 million. It's now up about $30 to $40 million. Six years ago, Harbortown was valued at about $2 million compared to about $20 million now.

Real estate alone went up 50 percent, and that doesn't include new construction, he said.
"A lot of the value is waterfront," Furst said. "Nobody recognized Fort Pierce as waterfront."
Furst said it is important to note that regardless of the increased property values, those who have homestead exemptions won't see an increase of more than 3 percent.