§ 20-39. Amount; income limitations; penalty for wrongful receipt.

(a)

In accordance with Section 6(f), Article VII of the Florida Constitution and F.S. § 196.075, as amended, the board of county commissioners hereby authorizes the following additional, homestead tax exemption:

(1)

An exemption of $50,000.00 for any person who has the legal or equitable title to real estate and maintains thereon the permanent residence of the owner and who has attained age 65 and whose household income, as defined by general law, does not exceed $20,000.00 as calculated in subsection (b), or;

(2)

An exemption equal to the assessed value of the property for any person who has the legal or equitable title to real estate with a just value less than $250,000.00 and who has maintained thereon the permanent residence of the owner for at least 25 years and who has attained age 65 and whose household income does not exceed the income limitation prescribed in paragraph (1), as calculated in subsection (b).

(b)

Beginning January 1, 2001, such person's $20,000.00 income limitation shall be adjusted annually, on January 1, by the percentage change in the average cost-of-living index in the period January 1 through December 31 of the immediate prior year compared with the same period for the year prior to that. The index is the average of the monthly consumer-price-index figures for the stated 12-month period, relative to the United States as a whole, issued by the United States Department of Labor.

(c)

Persons receiving such additional homestead tax exemption shall be subject to the provisions of F.S. §§ 196.131 [and] 196.161, as amended, if applicable, pertaining to wrongful receipt of a homestead tax exemption.

(Ord. No. 99-22, § 4, 11-16-99; Ord. No. 2013-02, § 4, 2-14-13)