{"id":126936,"date":"2026-01-21T21:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T21:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/126936\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T21:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T21:31:07","slug":"port-st-lucie-homeowners-question-rising-tax-bills-as-city-and-county-launch-workshop-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/126936\/","title":{"rendered":"Port St. Lucie homeowners question rising tax bills as city and county launch workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Some Port St. Lucie<\/a> homeowners say their property tax bills have jumped dramatically, putting new strain on household budgets and raising questions about how local taxes are calculated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bought this home in June of 2024,\u201d said Paul M., a Port St. Lucie homeowner. \u201cThe previous owner was paying about $3,200. I homesteaded, then got reassessed \u2014 and now my tax bill is $6,240. It\u2019s the same house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul says that increase translates to more than $500 a month just in property taxes through his escrow account, on top of rising homeowner\u2019s insurance costs.<\/p>\n

See also: Port St. Lucie crowned hottest ZIP code in America: Report<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt truly is becoming an affordability issue,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially if you\u2019re on a fixed income. When your taxes double, that\u2019s a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

City officials say they understand the frustration but stress that higher bills are not the result of a higher city tax rate.<\/p>\n

According to the City of Port St. Lucie, the city\u2019s millage rate \u2014 the rate it controls \u2014 has steadily declined over the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve reduced the millage rate over the last 10 years,\u201d said Scott Samples, Public Information Officer for Port St. Lucie. \u201cWe\u2019ve reduced our debt, and our credit rating has improved. That\u2019s been part of our effort to be good financial stewards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts say the increases many homeowners are seeing are instead tied to rising property values.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe higher the value goes, the more they\u2019ll be taxed on,\u201d said Gregory Dalessio, broker support manager with RE\/MAX Gold. \u201cIt\u2019s not because the city or county are raising rates.\u201d<\/p>\n

See also: New autism-focused school coming to Port St. Lucie, opening in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Rapid growth has played a major role. Since 2020, Port St. Lucie\u2019s population has increased by about 60,000 people, putting pressure on the housing market and affordability. Dalessio says that pressure has also contributed to a slowdown in home sales.<\/p>\n

In response to growing concerns, city and county leaders recently met for the first time in a joint workshop \u2014 a meeting officials say will now happen regularly.<\/p>\n

The goal, leaders say, is to better coordinate planning, manage growth, and look for cost-saving opportunities that could help residents over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus was on things like roads and mobility, growth, and quality of life,\u201d Samples said. \u201cThis was an opportunity to talk about how the city and county can continue working together in ways that best serve residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials say no decisions have been made yet, but the new workshops are intended to provide clearer communication and long-term planning as budgets are developed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Some Port St. Lucie homeowners say their property tax bills have jumped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[62782,9047,24758,24759,171,173,172,7074,62781,62780],"class_list":{"0":"post-126936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-city-workshop","9":"tag-homeowners","10":"tag-millage-rate","11":"tag-population-growth","12":"tag-port-st-lucie","13":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","14":"tag-port-st-lucie-news","15":"tag-property-taxes","16":"tag-property-values","17":"tag-tax-bills"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}