This is What You’ll Likely Pay in Walton County Property Tax Next Year:

Constitutional Offices

In Florida, county charters provide for constitutional officers – elected officials who receive budget oversight from the Board of County Commissioners, but are otherwise independent.

Those officers include the Sheriff, Property Appraiser, Tax Collector, Clerk, and Supervisor of Elections.

The Sheriff takes up the lion’s share of revenues in most counties, including Walton.

This year, the County CFO says that the Sheriff’s budget will remain flat and that they don’t have an increase in uniformed deputies programmed into the rudimentary budget at this time. She added that in past years, the Sheriff’s Office has typically increased its budget “in correlation with property values.”  The CFO said, “If they [the Sheriff’s Office] had needed to do that this year, then the 9.7 percent would have been over a 10 million dollar increase, and if you look at that [the $10 million,] that is about what we have increased the Capital Projects fund [for 2026.] 

Commissioner Danny Glidewell (District 2) “I guess, [regarding] the new roads [in Walton County] – we can say,  ‘Thank you Sheriff.,” Commissioner Danny Glidewell said in response.

“Yes sir, absolutely,” Thomason replied, “But I do want to point that out [the Sheriff’s Office flat budget for 2026,] because I think it will affect this next year.  It would be asking a lot to ask the Sheriff to never increase his budget again.”

Nonprofit Funding

Following the discussion on several internal departmental budgets, the Commissioners began discussing nonprofit funding provided by the County. 

Commissioner Donna Johns (District 4) discussed and compared the nonprofit funding practices of Okaloosa County and indicated that they have “a cap” of $250,000.  Commissioner Dan Curry (District 1) supported the reservations of Commissioner Johns on increased spending and expressed the need for the BCC to have a greater understanding and strategic validation for budgeting support for each funding recipient.  

Curry referred to the budget cuts expected in the tourism development budget and argued that they should consider nonprofits in a similar manner. “We can’t keep going up and up [referring to nonprofit designated support].  We need parks, and Ag Centers, and everything else – infrastructure. I hate to say it, but we don’t need to take advantage of the system.  That is my two cents.”

Commissioner Glidewell responded saying, “Most of these [nonprofit] organizations provide either Children’s services or [they] provide medical services or animal services…There is one named Safe Connections – the family visitation center that has requested $100,000 and last year received $25,000. [Safe Connections] is the only facility between Milton and Tallahassee where families that are the most vulnerable and struggling can exchange children between parents in a safe environment.  And there is no real way that they [Safe Connections, the nonprofit] can raise that money. It is not like they can go out and do a fundraiser… Do you really want to cut the animal refuge?… Most of these organizations are good organizations and most of them don’t have any paid staff…I do agree that there should [be] some sort of cap but there is not one on there [proposed list of nonprofit applicants] that I could go out there and say, ‘That needs to be cut.‘  We’ve got to support our children.  We’ve got to support medical treatment for our people…dental programs for our children. .. Do you really want to cut that? I don’t.”

During the last hour of the Budget Workshop, representatives of various nonprofit organizations came forward to give an overview of the services they provide to Walton County. One example included the Executive Director of  Safe Connections, Shannon O’Conners. This nonprofit provides support for families with children who need agency support for the safe transfer of children for parental visitation, monitored exchanges, and parenting education. Ms. O’Conners told the BCC, “Safe Connections does not typically fit into your normal nonprofit because we are providing a service – a court-ordered service for our County.  She continued, “We have lost a lot of funding throughout the years…Walton County gives us a building that we have our services in and you saw the increase in funding [request for this next fiscal year]. Audrey, our case manager, is with us today – last year she did 687 supervised visitations [alone].  She also did 382 parenting classes in the area…The funds that are requested for [fiscal year 2026] is an increase that will give Audrey another person [Administrative Personnel] to help her and to help fund some of her [Audrey’s] salary.“      

Another agency represented was Westonwood Ranch. Lindy Wood, founder and CEO of the nonprofit, spoke to the BCC about the involvement this agency has in the nurture, care, and support to those who have developmental disabilities that include autism, Down syndrome, and other cognitive impairments.  Westonwood Ranch, established in 2019, is a very successful nonprofit that is seeking to provide support for families that ultimately lose support and funding when a child with a developmental disability “ages out“ of programs that are currently provided by the government. Wood stated, “The way our system educates these young people that have developmental disabilities is [by] not allowing them to rise to their full potential. They are being ushered out of our public school system and they’re falling into a services cliff. It is bleak.  They fall into nothingness. So college is not the next step – but what is?  So Westonwood Ranch stands in the gap and we are investing in these young people and we are giving them job skill training and life skill training to get them to be generative and productive citizens of Walton County. Otherwise, can you imagine having your young adult child remaining on your couch for the rest of his or her existence?  So this alleviates burdens upon a family who often have to quit a job to stay at home with their loved one…”

This Budget Workshop in many ways showcased the best of Walton County and the impact that tax dollars are having on critical services to the community.

Calculating the Millage Rate

If you are not familiar with the millage rate as a concept – it is the rate at which you are taxed on your property.

The basic formula (it get complicated for a couple of reasons we’ll explain in a minute) is the total the property appraiser, who uses a state-mandated formula, believes your home is worth divided by 1000 x the millage rate.

So, if your home is worth $500,000 then you would divide $500,000 by 1,000 and then multiply it by the millage rate (Walton County’s is 3.6) to get the amount owed*, which would be $1,800.

It gets more complicated for a couple of reasons. First of all, you may be entitled to property tax reductions like the homestead exemption and various veterans and other exemptions that reduce your total taxable value on your home.

Additionally – you will owe property taxes to more organizationst than the County. If you live in a city, you will have to pay city taxes. Many Walton County residents also live in the South Walton Mosquito Control District and the Northwest Florida Water Management District – which also tax your property.

To get a plug-and-play version of your taxes, check out the Walton County Property Appraiser’s tax estimator tool here.