![Pictured are Santa Rosa County Appraiser Greg Brown; Diane Masaitis, Pace Rotary president; and Carl Fendell, also of the appraiser’s office. [Special to the Press Gazette]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-5cad530f-800d-0a3a-e053-0100007fdb1e-ad82c3c3.jpeg)
PACE — The Rotary Club of Pace’s Oct. 24 speaker was Greg Brown, Santa Rosa County property appraiser and former Pace Rotarian.
Brown advised that the average home sales price in Santa Rosa County for 2017 was 198,000, the average price per square foot was $94 and overall county property values exceeded $8 million.
While these numbers are on the rise, statewide reductions in funding have resulted in some shifting of financial responsibility from the state to the local level.
One such shift has been the cost of required real property mapping.
Every two years property tax maps in the county must be updated. In a budget-conscious effort to accomplish this, Brown and his team have used drone technology.
Drones produce survey quality imagery and can do so in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost. As an example, Brown shared that the new Hawks Landing subdivision on Chumuckla Highway took 19 minutes to fly over and photograph.
In addition, this technology can be used to determine flood surge impact by mapping first-floor elevations and measure volume for application at landfills and holding ponds, which will result in even further cost savings to the county.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Property appraiser: Drones help county stay budget-conscious