Sec. 780.604. - Application for Certification.

(a) The City's Neighborhoods Department, or such other department as determined by the Mayor (the "Department"), shall develop, receive, and review applications for certification and develop notices of determination of eligibility. (b) Any property owner claiming the property tax exemption provided for by this Part must apply for certification by the Department by January 15 for each year for which such exemption is claimed. The Department shall publish the deadline to submit the application for certification in a prominent location on the City of Jacksonville's website. The application for certification must be on a form provided by the Department and shall include the following: i. The most recently completed rental market study meeting the requirements of Section 780.604 (g); ii. A list of the units for which the property owner is seeking an exemption; and iii. The rent amount received by the property owner for each unit for which the property owner seeks an exemption, and if a unit is vacant and qualifies for an exemption under Section 780.602 , the property owner must provide evidence of the published rent amount for the vacant unit. (c) The Department shall verify and certify property for which an application is received that meets the requirements of this Section as qualified property and forward the certification to the property owner and to the Duval County Property Appraiser (the "Property Appraiser"). If the Department denies the application for certification, it must notify the property owner and include the reason for the denial. (d) The property owner shall submit an application for exemption, on a form prescribed by the Department, accompanied by the certification of qualified property, to the Property Appraiser no later than March 1 of each year for which the exemption is claimed. (e) The property owner may not receive an exemption authorized by this Part after expiration or repeal by ordinance of this Part. (f) The Department shall publish or cause to be published in a prominent location on the City of Jacksonville website, a list of the properties that have been certified as having met the requirements of this Part for the purpose of facilitating access to affordable housing. (g) The rental market study submitted as required by Section 780.602 (a)iii. must identify the fair market value rent of each unit for which the property owner seeks an exemption. Only a certified general appraiser, as defined in F.S. § 475.611, may issue a rental market study. The certified general appraiser must be independent of the property owner who requests a rental market study. In preparing the rental market study, a certified general appraiser shall comply with the standards of professional practice pursuant to F.S. Ch. 475, Pt. II, and use comparable property within the same geographic area and of the same type as the property for which the exemption is sought. A rental market study must have been completed within three years before submission of the application. (h) If the Property Appraiser determines that for any year during the immediately previous ten years a person who was not entitled to an exemption under this Part was granted such an exemption, the Property Appraiser must serve upon the owner a notice of intent to record in the public records of Duval County a notice of tax lien against any property owned by that person in Duval County, and that property must be identified in the notice of tax lien. Any property owned by the taxpayer and situated in this state is subject to the taxes exempted by the improper exemption, plus a penalty of 50 percent of the unpaid taxes for each year and interest at a rate of 15 percent per annum. If an exemption is improperly granted as a result of a clerical mistake or an omission by the Property Appraiser, the property owner improperly receiving the exemption may not be assessed a penalty or interest. (Ord. 2023-349-E , § 1)