MILTON — Santa Rosa County ranks seventh in Florida for its return on investment of property taxes, according to financial technology company SmartAsset’s third annual study.
The study considered property tax rates, quality of local schools and local crime rates to determine an overall value of the tax dollar. It focused on three elements that county officials have cited as examples for the county’s growth.
Santa Rosa County has not increased its property tax rates in 27 years — and dropped them twice, once in 2001 and again in 2008, according to the county-adopted budget for 2017. Santa Rosa also maintains one of the state’s lowest millage rates, 6.0953.
The SmartAsset study determined the county’s tax rate is 0.79 percent. It combined the number of households, median home value, and average property tax rate — which, ranking the county by tax rate alone, is 13th in the state — to arrive at this number.
Multiple sources have listed Santa Rosa County high in the state for schools, though using differing metrics.
The website www.schooldigger.com ranks Santa Rosa School District ninth in the state based on test scores released by the Florida Department of Education, while the website k12.niche.com ranks the district 13th, basing its finding on academics, diversity, health and safety, parent and student surveys, teachers’ grades, resources and facilities, clubs and activities, and sports.
The SmartAsset school ranking is based on average math and language arts test scores relative to the average property tax for the county, which set Santa Rosa at 11.
The study ranks Santa Rosa eighth for crime based on the number of violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents. In this case, that’s 1,429 for the county.
“(There are) low taxes, a high performing school district, then add in quality of life elements, low crime and what you’ve got is folks that are supplying the working force to neighboring counties,” Santa Rosa County Commission Chairman Rob Williamson said.
“They want to live here. They have a choice to live wherever and choose to live here.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: 'They want to live here'