How will this affect you? Property taxes may increase depending on which city your property falls within. The annexation boundary lines are somewhat bizarre, but will make more sense once you realize that the cities are after more property tax revenue from these Miami commercial properties. These cities include Doral, Medley, Miami Springs, Sweetwater and Virginia Gardens. Both owners and tenants should be concerned about this issue because it will increase property taxes during an economic period when we ought to be finding ways to reduce operating expenses for commercial properties and businesses.

If you have further questions on this issue, there is help. On Friday, August 6th, 2010, Mr. Tom Dixon delivered a presentation at the CCIM Miami luncheon on this topic. Some of his presentation can be viewed below. Mr. Tom Dixon may be reached by calling 305-443-4966 or visiting his website at www.dixoncommercialre.com. ComReal Miami would strongly recommend Mr. Dixon if you would like to consider filing an appeal for your Miami-Dade County commercial property tax assessment. For Mr. Dixon’s full report on the impact of annexations, please click here: [Impact of Annexations] as well as the map links below to see if the annexation will effect your property.

On August 20th, 2010, Edward Redlich was quoted in The Real Deal: “Every customer of mine now asks me about property taxes, because it’s just one of the many operating expenses they have to pay — one of the largest ones,” he said. “We get that all the time. Here we are in a recession and trying to find a way to work ourselves out of it and taxes just keep going up. And if we are successful and reduce the assessments on commercial properties, then they just raise the millage rates.” Redlich went on to say “Even if we are successful this year, they will just come back next year, and the year after that. The Revenuers are very progressive knowing that most businessmen have better things to do then bother with these incredibly audacious political issues.”

If you are interested in learning more and participating with neighborhood commercial property owners in challenging the annexations, you might like to get involved with The Airport West Business Association, Inc.

 City of Virginia Gardens Annexation << click for larger map >>

City of Doral Annexation << click for larger map >>

City of Medley Annexation << click for larger map >>

City of Miami Springs Annexation << click for larger map >>

If you are interested in learning more you may also want to attend the next Miami-Dade County annexation committee meeting on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 at 2 PM. The meeting will be located at the Stephen Clark Center, 111 NW 1st Street, 2nd Floor in downtown Miami.

Note: This blog was posted with the prior consent of Dixon Commercial Real Estate.