08-18-2013, 07:31 PM
In pastoral Southwest Ranches, former Marlins catcher Charles Johnson has a $600,000 patch of vacant land. Four cows huddle by a fence, sharing a sliver of shade.
Those cows have saved Johnson thousands of dollars over the past two years, exempting him from paying most of his property taxes. Johnson normally would have owed about $12,000 in property taxes on the choice land last year. He paid $45, county records show.
Johnson was among the recipients of bad news recently, though, when he was sent a letter from the property appraiser's office alerting him that his agricultural exemption from property taxes was being removed. The county property appraiser is engaged in a crackdown, sending her staff on a mission to review each of the 1,298 such exemptions in Broward.
The exemption is vague, officials said; some of the cases are judgment calls. But there was a growing concern at the county that it might be being abused, wrongly depriving local cities of tax dollars.
"I think we may have been way too liberal in our approvals,'' Broward Property Appraiser Lori Parrish said. "Some of the ones I've seen haven't been legitimately operating as a bonafide commercial activity in years.''
Already, 306 agricultural exemptions have been removed or denied this year, according to Abbey Roberson, manager of the property appraiser's department of professional standards and compliance. Last year, denials were nearly half that, at 143.
Mystery shopper
There's a story behind this full-scale review.
A woman named Lori Cohen was out house-shopping, and she arrived at a home in Davie. The owner told her that the property had an agricultural exemption.
"You don't even have to sell anything and you can get an ag exemption,'' he told her. "The property appraiser doesn't check.''
Lori Cohen is her married name. When she's at work, she's Lori Parrish, the property appraiser.
"Oh, really?" responded Parrish, still not letting on.
Along with Parrish was Ron Cacciatore, her director of professional standards and compliance.
"I said, 'Do you know you're talking to the property appraiser?'" Cacciatore remembered. "He said, 'I thought you looked familiar!'"
That homeowner no longer has his ag exemption.
"And he had no furniture in the house and had a homestead exemption,'' Parrish added. "His homestead is getting removed.''
The experience prompted Parrish to start her review.
Who's eligible, who's not
A property owner can apply for the exemption on property that is primarily used for bonafide "agricultural purposes,'' state law says, meaning a "good faith commercial agricultural'' use.
But just hosting some cows on the land isn't a business, Cacciatore said, citing the Johnson case, which he provided as an example of the cases his team is handling.
Johnson's representatives say he has three Leminson cows, two heifers and a bull on the grassy acreage, according to the property appraiser's office. But no business, Cacciatore said.
Johnson is appealing the ruling, the appraiser's office says.
The financial impact will be obvious on his tax bill. Johnson's land was taxed on a value of just $2,380 last year, because it was ostensibly being used for ag purposes, but now, it will be taxed on $622,040 — 261 times more.
Johnson, who holds the land under the company Shaq Johnson LLC, could not be reached for comment; his representatives at Personal Management Consultants Inc., in El Dorado Hills, Calif., also said they could not reach him or provide comment.
Nearby in Southwest Ranches is another active case the property appraiser's office cited.
Latin recording star Juan Gabriel, real name Alberto Aguilera, has just been denied an ag exemption on several properties.
According to the appraiser's office, he says he has 15 goats and five cows on one piece of land, and does horse boarding and riding on another, but officials say they see no bonafide business there.
He could not be reached for comment but is appealing the decision, the appraiser's office says.
Richard Speer, a landscape supplier who has had an ag exemption in Southwest Ranches since 2002, said he was rejected because he missed a letter asking for proof of his agricultural business, and he didn't provide the requested information. He's appealing and figures his case is a "slam dunk.''
He said he's not upset with the county — though he noted he will be if he loses his appeal.
"I'm totally with the county on that,'' he said. "... The guy who does buy one cow or buys trees and has no sales, no corporation, no nothing, that guy doesn't deserve it.''
Parrish said one woman claimed to be growing and selling orchids.
But "she'd been ill. The orchids in the picture didn't look like they'd been tended to in years,'' said Parrish, who removed the exemption.
In another case the property appraiser's office denied, Cacciatore said a woman with goats on her property claimed she goes around to churches selling them.
"That's bull,'' he said.
Others claim they are nurseries in the process of maturing their trees, Cacciatore said. One so-called nursery just looked like an extremely nicely landscaped property, whose owner claimed the landscaping was for sale, Cacciatore said.
"Here's what we're finding,'' said Cacciatore, convening a staff meeting about it on a recent weekday. "People are using it as a scam. They plant a few trees, they don't pay their normal amount of taxes on an acre of land. They're not selling trees. ... It's such a loophole.''
The sleuth work has kept investigator Stephen Raabe busy.
A former Fort Lauderdale police officer, Raabe said he often tells people, "I thought I got lied to as a cop. That wasn't even a drop in the bucket compared to this.''
Some 'are abusing it'
There are agricultural properties in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Plantation, Miramar and many other Broward cities. But the highest concentration is in Broward's wild west, the cities that are not as highly developed as on the east side.
Southwest Ranches leads the county in the number of exemptions, with $170 million worth of land there removed from taxation, according to data analyzed by Holly Cimino in the property appraiser's office.
Next in the rankings are Davie, Parkland, Coconut Creek and Cooper City.
Countywide, $740 million in land value is exempt from taxation because it supports agricultural business.
The exemption isn't a bad thing, said Southwest Ranches Town Administrator Andy Berns. It lessens development pressure, allowing a place like Southwest Ranches to live up to its motto, "Preserve Our Rural Lifestyle.''
"We are very much an agricultural town,'' Berns said. "Certainly anyone who's here who is entitled to that should have it. The downside is if there are some that are abusing it, other people are unfairly penalized and need to make that up'' with their tax dollars.
Berns said he didn't know how rampant the abuse was.
"I don't know,'' he said. "Lori's going to find out.''
Those cows have saved Johnson thousands of dollars over the past two years, exempting him from paying most of his property taxes. Johnson normally would have owed about $12,000 in property taxes on the choice land last year. He paid $45, county records show.
Johnson was among the recipients of bad news recently, though, when he was sent a letter from the property appraiser's office alerting him that his agricultural exemption from property taxes was being removed. The county property appraiser is engaged in a crackdown, sending her staff on a mission to review each of the 1,298 such exemptions in Broward.
The exemption is vague, officials said; some of the cases are judgment calls. But there was a growing concern at the county that it might be being abused, wrongly depriving local cities of tax dollars.
"I think we may have been way too liberal in our approvals,'' Broward Property Appraiser Lori Parrish said. "Some of the ones I've seen haven't been legitimately operating as a bonafide commercial activity in years.''
Already, 306 agricultural exemptions have been removed or denied this year, according to Abbey Roberson, manager of the property appraiser's department of professional standards and compliance. Last year, denials were nearly half that, at 143.
Mystery shopper
There's a story behind this full-scale review.
A woman named Lori Cohen was out house-shopping, and she arrived at a home in Davie. The owner told her that the property had an agricultural exemption.
"You don't even have to sell anything and you can get an ag exemption,'' he told her. "The property appraiser doesn't check.''
Lori Cohen is her married name. When she's at work, she's Lori Parrish, the property appraiser.
"Oh, really?" responded Parrish, still not letting on.
Along with Parrish was Ron Cacciatore, her director of professional standards and compliance.
"I said, 'Do you know you're talking to the property appraiser?'" Cacciatore remembered. "He said, 'I thought you looked familiar!'"
That homeowner no longer has his ag exemption.
"And he had no furniture in the house and had a homestead exemption,'' Parrish added. "His homestead is getting removed.''
The experience prompted Parrish to start her review.
Who's eligible, who's not
A property owner can apply for the exemption on property that is primarily used for bonafide "agricultural purposes,'' state law says, meaning a "good faith commercial agricultural'' use.
But just hosting some cows on the land isn't a business, Cacciatore said, citing the Johnson case, which he provided as an example of the cases his team is handling.
Johnson's representatives say he has three Leminson cows, two heifers and a bull on the grassy acreage, according to the property appraiser's office. But no business, Cacciatore said.
Johnson is appealing the ruling, the appraiser's office says.
The financial impact will be obvious on his tax bill. Johnson's land was taxed on a value of just $2,380 last year, because it was ostensibly being used for ag purposes, but now, it will be taxed on $622,040 — 261 times more.
Johnson, who holds the land under the company Shaq Johnson LLC, could not be reached for comment; his representatives at Personal Management Consultants Inc., in El Dorado Hills, Calif., also said they could not reach him or provide comment.
Nearby in Southwest Ranches is another active case the property appraiser's office cited.
Latin recording star Juan Gabriel, real name Alberto Aguilera, has just been denied an ag exemption on several properties.
According to the appraiser's office, he says he has 15 goats and five cows on one piece of land, and does horse boarding and riding on another, but officials say they see no bonafide business there.
He could not be reached for comment but is appealing the decision, the appraiser's office says.
Richard Speer, a landscape supplier who has had an ag exemption in Southwest Ranches since 2002, said he was rejected because he missed a letter asking for proof of his agricultural business, and he didn't provide the requested information. He's appealing and figures his case is a "slam dunk.''
He said he's not upset with the county — though he noted he will be if he loses his appeal.
"I'm totally with the county on that,'' he said. "... The guy who does buy one cow or buys trees and has no sales, no corporation, no nothing, that guy doesn't deserve it.''
Parrish said one woman claimed to be growing and selling orchids.
But "she'd been ill. The orchids in the picture didn't look like they'd been tended to in years,'' said Parrish, who removed the exemption.
In another case the property appraiser's office denied, Cacciatore said a woman with goats on her property claimed she goes around to churches selling them.
"That's bull,'' he said.
Others claim they are nurseries in the process of maturing their trees, Cacciatore said. One so-called nursery just looked like an extremely nicely landscaped property, whose owner claimed the landscaping was for sale, Cacciatore said.
"Here's what we're finding,'' said Cacciatore, convening a staff meeting about it on a recent weekday. "People are using it as a scam. They plant a few trees, they don't pay their normal amount of taxes on an acre of land. They're not selling trees. ... It's such a loophole.''
The sleuth work has kept investigator Stephen Raabe busy.
A former Fort Lauderdale police officer, Raabe said he often tells people, "I thought I got lied to as a cop. That wasn't even a drop in the bucket compared to this.''
Some 'are abusing it'
There are agricultural properties in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Plantation, Miramar and many other Broward cities. But the highest concentration is in Broward's wild west, the cities that are not as highly developed as on the east side.
Southwest Ranches leads the county in the number of exemptions, with $170 million worth of land there removed from taxation, according to data analyzed by Holly Cimino in the property appraiser's office.
Next in the rankings are Davie, Parkland, Coconut Creek and Cooper City.
Countywide, $740 million in land value is exempt from taxation because it supports agricultural business.
The exemption isn't a bad thing, said Southwest Ranches Town Administrator Andy Berns. It lessens development pressure, allowing a place like Southwest Ranches to live up to its motto, "Preserve Our Rural Lifestyle.''
"We are very much an agricultural town,'' Berns said. "Certainly anyone who's here who is entitled to that should have it. The downside is if there are some that are abusing it, other people are unfairly penalized and need to make that up'' with their tax dollars.
Berns said he didn't know how rampant the abuse was.
"I don't know,'' he said. "Lori's going to find out.''