Free seminar for Lee County homeowners seeking property tax relief

An explosion in Southwest Florida home values means you’ll pay more in property taxes, but the Lee County Clerk of Court is hosting a free online seminar Wednesday afternoon on how homeowners can get relief by filing a petition.

Filing the petition can be done online for only $15. But, if that sounds overwhelming for those less technologically inclined, the 2 p.m. workshop is intended to help clarify the process.

“Any property owners who need to get more information about the Value Adjustment Board process should attend this,” said Joseph Abreu, communications officer for the Lee County Clerk of Court. “If they are concerned about the assessed values given on their trim notice, if they have any exemptions that they feel are missing, there’s an opportunity for them to file a petition with the Value Adjustment Board.”

The petition homeowners would file is for a homestead exemption, which will cap what they can be charged. In order to qualify, you must live in your home permanently and be a Florida resident.

“If they are living in their house and they qualify for the homestead, then they should be applying for that; that will put a 3% cap on their property assessed value every year,” Abreu said. “It does help maintain that growth of how much the assessment would be. But I understand not everybody has that opportunity. So, if they have questions, they should feel free to reach out to the property appraiser if they have concerns.”

If you want to attend the seminar in person, the event is at 2 p.m. at the Cape Coral Public Library, located at 921 SW 39th Terrace. People are asked to register ahead of time or attend online.

It’s important to note that property taxes are not necessarily based on what you see on Zillow — that’s the market value. Rather, property taxes are based on the assessed value.