Jim Ford’s Legacy of Service and Proven Performance

County Coordinator of the Save Our Homes (SOH) Constitutional Amendment limiting the annual increase in assessed value of homestead properties.  In a letter to Jim Ford, the President of Save Our Homes, Inc., stated, “the large number of petitions you obtained in Brevard County helped tip the scale in qualifying this amendment for the ballot.” 

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Argued before the Florida Administration Commission against the Administrative Rule proposed by the Department of Revenue requiring the assessed value of SOH capped homestead properties be increased annually even if there is no increase in the market value.  Click here to read.

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Founder of CAPIT.  Jim drafted the first County Charter Amendment by petition initiative to limit property tax revenue increases from annual county property tax levies.

 Jim Ford submitting signed "CAPIT" tax cap charter amendment petitions to Fred Galey, Supervisor of Elections.

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Drafted and recommended the “Truth In Taxation” Charter Amendment.  This   established a requirement for a newspaper publication by the County revealing the true increase in taxes levied over the amount of taxes the prior year.

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Drafted and proposed other successful County Charter Amendments to:

·        Require voter approval to levy any new non-ad valorem special assessment programs

·        Require voter approval for the establishment of any new Municipal Service Taxing Unit

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Implemented a state of the art website, providing a wide range of property data that has become a major resource for the community.  This site also provides forms necessary for filing various applications administered by the Property Appraiser.

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Awarded with the Distinguished Assessment Jurisdiction Award in 1998 from the International Association of Assessing Offices.

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Served on Board of Directors of SAVE OUR HOMES PORTABILITY, INC., working to get the portability constitutional amendment on the ballot, allowing new homeowners to move their capped assessment value to a new homestead.

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Reduced the office budget 12% over the last two years including the elimination of 19 positions by using technology and finding ways to consolidate duties and re-organize staff.

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Maintains an active Exemption Compliance Division, which has investigated and recovered nearly $1 million in tax revenue and penalties over the last two and one-half years alone.  This effort has, within the same timeframe, returned over $37 million in taxable value to the tax roll.

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Established automatic renewal of homestead exemptions eliminating cards having to be returned to the office annually.

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Implemented year round filing for exemptions.

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Implemented homestead filing by mail.

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Jim Ford has never had an assessment roll rejected by the Florida Department of Revenue.

VISIT THE PROPERTY APPRAISER WEBSITE