Property on base subject to taxes

Florida Keys News

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Property on base subject to taxes

County rules that privately owned buildings at NAS Key West not exempt

BY JOHN DESANTIS AND TIMOTHY O’HARA Citizen Staff

Monroe County fired a shot over the Navy's bow Tuesday, requesting an inventory of all buildings and other property owned by non-military entities within Naval Air Station Key West, including those at Peary Court and Sigsbee, so that a tax bill can be prepared.

The Monroe County Property Appraiser's Office has ruled that privately owned buildings on Navy land in its juris...

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Property on Base

Submitted on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 10:30pm by Sunshine

Ok, don't have all the dates or titles right maybe, but as I understand it, Ron Demes has some big shot civilian position the Navy overseeing operations at the bases here, Peary Court, Sigsbee, Trumbo, etc. (c'mon Citizen, you can confirm his position) and from sometime in 2010 until May or June of 2011, HIS WIFE, Mary Demes, was the Executive/Administrative Assistant to the Property Appraiser, Ervin A. Higgs, as well as serving for a short period of time under Karl Borglum, before retiring!?!?!?! These are the folks who exempted Balfur Beatty from taxation. Say what? Please somebody, convince me this is just a co-incidence?

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Be careful

Submitted on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 9:05pm by Charles Darwin

Don't chase the Navy away; it's deepened the gene pool in the Keys for decades.

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Tax Them!

Submitted on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 2:38pm by Cruz

If everyone knew how much money BB was making on these houses, there would be no objection whatsoever. We're talking monthly rental rates that range from $1950 for the junior most members to $3400 for the more senior members. These are the rates set by the government for housing allowance that turns around gets gets forwarded to BB.

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Doesn't Cost Military a Dime to Live There...

Submitted on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 10:02pm by hotyi54c

Cruz, military get a housing allowance. If you opt to live in contracted housing, you give up your housing allowance. Live out in town, you have to live within that allowance or you pay out of pocket. You're right, military members give their housing allowance to the contractor. That rent included utilities. Try to find family housing value like that on the island!

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Let's chase away the navy !

Submitted on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 7:31am by 666

Let's chase away the navy ! That will leave more room for duck tours and $5 everything stores.

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There is no privately owned land on this land....

Submitted on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 9:09pm by hotyi54c

In this privatization deal, the govt. keeps the land and BBC gets the buildings. So what does the county expect to get exactly? Will the county tax Monroe County Schools for the land on Sigsbee?

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Hello

Submitted on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 8:18am by derp

The county expects to get the money owed on taxes for all the buildings BB owns, which when extrapolated over the past few years, is a considerable chunk of change. It has nothing to do with the land, the land will not be taxed, just the buildings owned by the for profit company. The charter school has never been mentioned, and Monroe County schools are tax free, like the Navy. Everybody should be happy about this. The more value that is added to the tax roll, the lower the millage rate will be. The lower the millage rate, the lower your taxes!!! Go Get 'em!!

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It Will Be Interesting To See What Happens...

Submitted on Wed, 06/13/2012 - 9:58pm by hotyi54c

Derp, one of the issues I see is with the exception of Peary Courts, Sigsbee, Truman Annex, and Trumbo were dredged lands and never privately owned. Peary Court was part of the original land mass but always federal property. As a taxpayer, it sounds good. But surely this was discussed years ago when the deal went down? Who was asleep on the job? Not a great time to be bringing this topic up when base closures are coming. Monroe County sure seems like they don't want the Navy here.

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hotyi54c

Submitted on Thu, 06/14/2012 - 9:24am by derp

It was my understanding that when BB entered in the contracts with the Navy, they stated it was a lease agreement and no physical property would change hands. Therefore there would be no taxable value. When that changed and how public it was, I do not know. I'm not sure if it is a case of "dropping the ball" or a case of "catching the culprit". Either way, better late than never. Hopefully they can speed up the process and slap a tax lien on Peary Court before BB sells it, which they are desperately trying to close on.