| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to property tax administration; amending |
| 3 | s. 195.0995, F.S.; providing that if the Department of |
| 4 | Revenue finds that more than 10 percent of sales qualified |
| 5 | or disqualified by a county do not fall within applicable |
| 6 | criteria, the department shall issue a postaudit |
| 7 | notification of defects instead of a review notice; |
| 8 | amending s. 195.096, F.S.; revising the requirements |
| 9 | placed on the department in its review of assessment |
| 10 | rolls; providing an effective date. |
| 11 |
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| 12 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 13 |
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| 14 | Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 195.0995, Florida |
| 15 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 16 | 195.0995 Use of sales transactions data; qualification; |
| 17 | review.-- |
| 18 | (2) The department shall randomly sample all sales in the |
| 19 | county to determine whether those sales were properly qualified |
| 20 | or disqualified. If the department finds that more than 10 |
| 21 | percent of sales qualification decisions do not fall within the |
| 22 | applicable criteria, the department shall issue a postaudit |
| 23 | notification of defects and shall follow the procedures set |
| 24 | forth in s. 195.097 review notice pursuant to s. 193.1142(4) |
| 25 | requiring the property appraiser to satisfactorily explain or |
| 26 | remedy the problem before approval of the assessment roll. |
| 27 | Section 2. Paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section |
| 28 | 195.096, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 29 | 195.096 Review of assessment rolls.-- |
| 30 | (2) The department shall conduct, no less frequently than |
| 31 | once every 2 years, an in-depth review of the assessment rolls |
| 32 | of each county. The department need not individually study every |
| 33 | use-class of property set forth in s. 195.073, but shall at a |
| 34 | minimum study the level of assessment in relation to just value |
| 35 | of each classification specified in subsection (3). Such in- |
| 36 | depth review may include proceedings of the value adjustment |
| 37 | board and the audit or review of procedures used by the counties |
| 38 | to appraise property. |
| 39 | (c) In conducting assessment ratio studies, the department |
| 40 | must use all practicable steps, including stratified statistical |
| 41 | and analytical reviews and sale-qualification studies, to |
| 42 | maximize the representativeness or statistical reliability of |
| 43 | samples a representative or statistically reliable sample of |
| 44 | properties in tests of each classification, stratum, or roll |
| 45 | made the subject of a ratio study published by it. The |
| 46 | department shall document and retain records of the measures of |
| 47 | representativeness of the properties studied in compliance with |
| 48 | this section. Such documentation must include a record of |
| 49 | findings used as the basis for the approval or disapproval of |
| 50 | the tax roll in each county pursuant to s. 193.1142. In |
| 51 | addition, to the greatest extent practicable, the department |
| 52 | shall study assessment roll strata by subclassifications such as |
| 53 | value groups and or market areas for each classification, |
| 54 | subclassification, or stratum to be studied, to maximize assure |
| 55 | the representativeness of ratio study samples. For purposes of |
| 56 | this section, the department shall rely primarily on an |
| 57 | assessment-to-sales-ratio study in conducting assessment ratio |
| 58 | studies in those classifications of property specified in |
| 59 | subsection (3) for which there are adequate market sales. The |
| 60 | department shall compute the median and the value-weighted mean |
| 61 | for each classification or subclassification studied and for the |
| 62 | roll as a whole. |
| 63 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2005. |