Property taxes for 518 West Bay DrivePlease see Finance Director Kim Adams' response to Mr. Schirripa's request for information on property taxes for 518 West Bay Drive, for your information. - Shirley Frick, Mayor/Commission Secretary, City of Largo
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Dear Mr. Schirripa, There appears to be a slight misunderstanding. Please allow me to explain. Property taxes were paid by the City of Largo on the property. But, if the city pays property taxes to itself, then the city is effectively collecting no tax revenue. The "payment" is a wash in regard to generating tax revenue, because the city receives no net tax revenue. In other words, if you were to transfer a dollar from your savings account to your checking account, are you really receiving anything? In the same sense, when the city pays a tax to itself, the city isn't receiving any revenue. In addition, and this is a more important point, most of the property taxes paid by the city on the property do not come back to the city. Only about 25% of the property tax bill is for city taxes. The rest of the property taxes paid by the city on the property are sent to the School Board, Pinellas County and other taxing authorities. So, the city actually loses about 75% of the taxes paid on the property, because those taxes are sent to other governments. In summary, even though property taxes were paid by the city, the city effectively received no tax revenue from the property. The city would be better off from a tax revenue perspective if the property were sold and the new owner paid the property taxes. I believe this was Commissioner Black's point. - Kim Adams
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