Here's who's running for St. Lucie County property appraiser in Aug. 20 Republican primary

A Realtor hopes to stop the St. Lucie County property appraiser from winning a third term.

Joe James is challenging incumbent Michelle Franklin in the Aug. 20 Republican primary for the constitutional office whose key duty is to assess the value of land and buildings and report appraisals to the Florida Department of Revenue. Their valuation indirectly affects property taxes and can trickle down to the rents landlords charge.

James vowed to decrease the number of disputes to the Value Adjustment Board and to give customers more online access to services, possibly through artificial intelligence. Franklin said she'd continue to implement new technology to expand online services, improve customer experience and increase data security, as she's done for seven years.

Who's running for St. Lucie County property appraiser?

• Incumbent : Michelle Franklin of Port St. Lucie
• Age: 50
• Profession: Property appraiser
• Time in office: Two four-year terms
• Campaign finances: As of July 23, she had spent $36,448 of her $92,684, of which $15,000 was her own money.

• Challenger: Joe James of Port St. Lucie
• Age: 67
• Profession: Real estate agent at Watson Realty Corp.
• Time in office: First time running
• Campaign finances: As of July 23, he had spent $9,613 of his $12,795, of which $3,000 was his own money.

What does the property appraiser do?

The property appraiser doesn't determine the tax rate; that's the purview of city and county governments, as well as special taxing districts and authorities . But Franklin determines a property's value, which multiplied by the tax rate equals taxes owed, so she can have a roundabout effect on property taxes.

"There are some small, gray areas where I get some decision-making," she told TCPalm during the 2020 election. "It’s pretty black and white with 98% of what we do. It’s following the letter of the law. ”

Property appraisers also map growth and help qualifying homeowners who apply for tax exemptions , including homestead, veterans, widowers, senior citizens, first responders, deployed active military and people with disabilities.

Value Adjustment Board disputes

Residential and commercial property owners who thought Franklin valued their parcel either too high or too low in 2023 filed 1,005 appeals to the Value Adjustment Board (VAB), according to property appraiser data.

That's too high, James said, blaming Franklin and her staff.

“You don’t have a VAB petition filed unless there is a failure in the office,” he said. “It’s either an incorrect assessment or a failure to communicate.”

The 21 appellants who won their dispute represent 0.06% of the 183,520 valuations Franklin made.

“To act like the average property owner can’t trust our value, I just don’t agree with that,” she said.

AI and improving technology

James did not give details about how he would improve technology and online services.

Franklin said she would make it easier for property owners to file for exemptions online, and deploy an automated filing system that would send property owners automated reminders, instead of the staff having to do it manually.

"It'll allow us, in a growing county that St. Lucie is, to not have the personal investment of time every time we need to follow up with a property owner," Franklin said.

St. Lucie County property appraiser election

• Term: Four years
• Salary: $173,814
• Who can vote: Only St. Lucie County residents who are registered Republicans can vote in the Aug. 20 Republican primary between the two Republican candidates.
• Next step: Technically, the winner will face a write-in candidate in the Nov. 5 general election, but that write-in candidate's name won't appear on the ballot. So essentially, the election will be decided in the primary without residents who are registered as Democrats, independents or minor party affiliates being allowed to choose who represents them. That's because the write-in candidate closed the primary . Without the write-in candidate, the primary would have been open to all registered voters because no Democrat, independent or minor party candidates filed to challenge the Republican primary winner.

Gianna Montesano is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at gianna.montesano@tcpalm.com , 772-409-1429, or follow her on X @gonthescene .

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Here's who's running for St. Lucie County property appraiser in Aug. 20 Republican primary