According to the HeraldTribune.com, Sarasota will be seeing a $10 million increase in property taxes this year;giving them $27 million in property taxes. The increase is due to the large rise in property value in the city.
Sarasota, and much of the state of Florida has seen a real estate boom; there has been soaring house values and a steady building of new property.
This may seem like Sarasota should have a surplus, but according to the news story they do not. A lot of the money is going towards the salary and pension of the service workers.
The real estate boom is a double edged sword. Prorperty values have increased at a much faster rate than salaries. Many service workers across Florida, including Sarasota are unable to purchase homes.
Although the values of homes have increasesed, migration to Florida has not slowed down. People want their share of the sun and beach.
So who knows, next year may see another huge jump in the amount of property taxes Sarasota collects.
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