Property values continue to fall in Franklin County and that means the county will have to make some serious cuts to its budget next year.
Local property appraiser Doris Pendleton said that taxable property values this year have fallen about 6 percent from last year.
In real dollars, the value of taxable property in Franklin County has fallen from about 2 billion dollars to just over 1.9 billion dollars.
According to Miss Pendleton, the decline is about the same as in neighboring counties; she said Wakulla and Gulf counties have both seen a 6 percent drop in property values over the past year, in Bay county it was 7 percent.
That will translate into about 500 thousand dollars less for Franklin county to use in its budget if it doesn’t raise taxes.
County planner Alan Pierce pointed out that the budget picture is actually a little more bleak because the county is starting off with a half million dollar deficit.
He said last year the county borrowed against the reserve – something it can’t do again this year.
And Miss Pendleton pointed out that her numbers are very preliminary, and could drop even further depending on how many people take advantage of a new active military exemption.
On the bright side, Miss Pendleton said her office is seeing some home sales in the county that are not bank sales.
She said that home prices in the Plantation are actually beginning to level off, though home prices are continuing to fall in the rest of the county.
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