{"id":327523,"date":"2026-07-02T18:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T18:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/327523\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T18:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T18:09:12","slug":"tax-collector-sends-out-incorrect-info-on-property-tax-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/327523\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax Collector sends out incorrect info on property tax cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone makes mistakes now and then.<\/p>\n

But the office of Broward Tax Collector Abbey Ajayi made two errors, both on the same day, when sharing information about the Nov. 3 ballot item regarding property tax cuts.<\/p>\n

The goofs made it into back-to-back emails sent out to Broward residents on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The first email wrongly stated that the property tax cuts<\/a>, if approved, would lead to an increase in a homesteaded property\u2019s assessed value. A second email went out hours later in an attempt to correct the error.<\/p>\n

But that second email was incorrect as well, claiming the property tax cuts would decrease a homesteaded property\u2019s assessed value \u2014 when in fact they will decrease the taxable value.<\/p>\n

The South Florida Sun Sentinel called to point out the error, prompting the Broward Tax Collector\u2019s team to start working on a third email to correct the record.<\/p>\n

That email was expected to go out by 5 p.m. on Thursday, said Wally Eccleston, director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the Broward Tax Collector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re sorry about any error on our part,\u201d Eccleston told the Sun Sentinel. \u201cThis was an honest mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eccleston said he didn\u2019t know how many residents received the emails, but said they were sent to people who signed up to receive news and updates from the Broward Tax Collector\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

The emails were meant to alert residents that an amendment on the November ballot will allow voters to decide whether to increase the state\u2019s homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028.<\/p>\n

The email mentions that approval of the amendment would mean property tax savings<\/a> for homesteaded homeowners. In the next line, the email states that property taxes pay for government services that include police and fire response, roads, parks, hospitals and schools.<\/p>\n

Some are wondering why the email was sent at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can read that email as being for it or against it,\u201d Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller said. \u201cIt said it will result in a reduction in your property taxes. And then it says all these different services are paid with property taxes. You can read it either way.\u201d<\/p>\n

A wiser move would have been not to send out any emails at all, Geller said.<\/p>\n

The emails were meant only to provide information, according to Eccleston.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was purely informational,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was not meant to advocate for or against. We weren\u2019t taking a position on the amendment in any way, shape or form. We were just trying to inform the public. We aren\u2019t telling people how to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tax collector\u2019s office is fairly new in Broward.<\/p>\n

Ajayi was elected in August 2024 and sworn in as the county\u2019s first independent constitutional tax collector in January 2025.<\/p>\n

Geller, a longtime politician who served in the state Senate and also the Florida House of Representatives, chalked it up to a lack of experience.<\/p>\n

Former state Rep. Joe Geller, brother to Steve Geller and a member of the Miami-Dade County School Board, argued there\u2019s nothing wrong with trying to inform voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything wrong with that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you\u2019re going to stick your nose into that, you ought to get it right. If you\u2019re going to communicate as a public official to members of the public, I\u2019d say get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everyone makes mistakes now and then. But the office of Broward Tax Collector Abbey Ajayi made two errors,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250,114,266,115,99,109],"class_list":["post-327523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327523","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=327523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}