Delray Beach Property Tax: Millage, Exemptions, and Deadlines

If you own a home in Delray Beach, expect a combined property tax rate above 20 mills, which works out to more than $20 in tax for every $1,000 of taxable value. The Delray Beach property tax bill you receive stacks the city’s own levy (roughly 6.19 mills for fiscal year 2026) on top of Palm Beach County, the School District of Palm Beach County, and several special districts. Your exact rate depends on which districts cover your parcel, and your final bill depends on the exemptions you qualify for.

Who Taxes Your Delray Beach Property

Every bill stacks levies from multiple governing bodies. The three heaviest are the City of Delray Beach, Palm Beach County, and the School District. Smaller special-district levies add up fast on top of those.

City of Delray Beach: approximately 6.19 mills for FY2026 (6.1611 operating plus 0.0309 debt service), covering municipal services such as police, fire, and parks.
Palm Beach County: funds countywide services including the sheriff’s office, libraries, and infrastructure.
School District of Palm Beach County: one of the larger portions of every bill.
Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority: 1.0000 mills on properties inside the DDA boundary.¹
South Florida Water Management District: 0.2301 mills combined for the Okeechobee Basin.²
Other special districts: the Children’s Services Council, the Health Care District, and the Inland Navigation District each add fractions of a mill.

One mill equals one dollar of tax per $1,000 of taxable value.³ Each authority votes on its rate at public hearings before the fiscal year begins, and every individual levy shows up on the Truth in Millage (TRIM) notice the property appraiser mails in August.⁴

One boundary worth knowing: if your property sits inside the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency district, you don’t pay an extra tax for the CRA. A portion of the city and county taxes already collected there is redirected to fund redevelopment.⁵

How the Bill Is Calculated

The math is simple once you understand the three values the county uses.

The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser sets your property’s just value (market value) as of January 1 each year.⁶ That just value is reduced to an assessed value if an assessment cap applies. Exemptions are then subtracted from the assessed value, leaving the taxable value.

The formula: taxable value ÷ 1,000 × total millage rate = ad valorem tax.³

A home with a taxable value of $350,000 in a district with a combined 20-mill rate owes $7,000 in ad valorem taxes ($350,000 ÷ 1,000 × 20). Your final bill can also include non-ad valorem assessments for services like solid waste and stormwater, which appear as flat charges rather than as rates tied to value.

The Homestead Exemption

The homestead exemption is the biggest single tax break available to Delray Beach homeowners, and it isn’t a flat $50,000 deduction. It comes in two pieces with a taxable gap between them.

The first $25,000 of assessed value is exempt from all property taxes, school levies included. The next $25,000 (from $25,001 to $50,000) receives no exemption and is fully taxable. A second exemption then covers assessed value between $50,001 and $75,000, but that portion applies only to non-school levies like city, county, and special-district taxes.⁷

You qualify if you hold legal or equitable title and the home is your permanent residence as of January 1. File with the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser by March 1 of the year you want the exemption. Miss that deadline and you waive it for the entire year.⁸

Bring Social Security numbers for all owners applying (and their spouses), a valid Florida driver’s license or state ID, and at least one of the following: a Florida vehicle registration, Florida voter registration showing your property address, or a Declaration of Domicile.⁸

Save Our Homes and Why Long-Time Owners Pay Less

Once your homestead is in place and the property is first assessed at just value, the Save Our Homes amendment limits how fast your assessed value can rise. Each year afterward, the assessed value cannot grow by more than 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower.⁹ In a hot market, that cap saves thousands per year.

The cap resets when the property changes ownership. A new buyer is assessed at full just value in year one, and the cap starts accumulating again from that new baseline. Over time the gap between a capped assessed value and the actual market value can widen into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is why long-time Delray Beach residents often pay far less than newer neighbors in comparable homes.

Portability When You Move

If you sell your homesteaded property and buy another home anywhere in Florida, you can transfer up to $500,000 of your accumulated Save Our Homes benefit to the new property. If the new home is worth the same or more, the full dollar amount transfers up to that cap. If the new home is worth less, the benefit is proportionally reduced based on the ratio of the new home’s value to the old home’s value.¹⁰

You must establish the new homestead within three years of January 1 of the year you gave up the old one. File Form DR-501T (Transfer of Homestead Assessment Difference) with your new homestead application by March 1.⁹ People forget this form and lose a benefit they spent years building. Put portability at the top of your closing checklist.

Other Exemptions

Several targeted reductions sit on top of the standard homestead exemption. All require filing with the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser by March 1.

Un-remarried surviving spouses who are permanent Florida residents receive a $5,000 reduction in assessed value.¹¹
Blind or totally and permanently disabled persons receive the same $5,000 reduction, with certification from a licensed physician, the VA, or the Social Security Administration.¹¹
Honorably discharged disabled veterans age 65 and older receive a discount on ad valorem taxes equal to the percentage of their permanent, combat-related, service-connected disability. A veteran rated 70% disabled receives a 70% discount.¹²
Residents 65 and older with household income below an annually adjusted limit may qualify for an additional homestead exemption of up to $50,000 where the county or city has adopted an ordinance authorizing it.¹³

If a disabled veteran who received the age-65 discount passes away, the surviving spouse continues receiving the same dollar-amount discount as long as they hold title, permanently reside there, and do not remarry.¹²

If You Own an Investment Property or Second Home

Non-homestead properties, including second homes and commercial real estate, don’t get the homestead exemption or Save Our Homes. They do get a separate cap: annual increases in assessed value cannot exceed 10%, excluding school board levies.¹⁴ It applies automatically with no application.

The 10% cap resets to full just value on a change of ownership or on a qualifying improvement that increases just value by at least 25%. Agricultural, conservation, and tangible personal property are excluded. If you later convert a non-homestead property to your primary residence and file for homestead, the non-homestead cap is removed and Save Our Homes takes over starting the following January 1.

Payment Deadlines and Early-Payment Discounts

Tax bills are mailed in late October. Taxes become delinquent on April 1, so you effectively have until March 31 to pay without penalty.¹⁵ Paying early saves real money on a schedule set by Florida law:

November: 4% discount
December: 3% discount
January: 2% discount
February: 1% discount
March: no discount

On a $7,000 bill, paying in November saves $280.¹⁶ If a discount deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, it extends to the next business day. You can look up your bill and pay online through the Palm Beach County Tax Collector’s portal, which also accepts credit cards, e-checks, and in-person payments at service centers throughout the county.

What Happens If You Don’t Pay

Unpaid taxes go delinquent on April 1 and immediately accrue interest at 18% per year, with a minimum charge of 3%.¹⁷ The bigger risk comes next.

The tax collector sells tax certificates on delinquent properties, typically in June. A tax certificate is a lien bought by an outside investor who pays your delinquent taxes; the investor earns up to 18% interest until you redeem the certificate.¹⁸ If you don’t redeem within two years, the certificate holder can apply for a tax deed, which forces a sale of your property. Losing a home over a few thousand dollars in unpaid taxes happens more often than people realize.

There’s one narrow protection for homesteaded properties: if the delinquent amount is under $250, the certificate cannot be sold at public auction and is instead held by the county.¹⁸

Challenging Your Assessment

If you think the property appraiser overvalued your home, you can challenge it through the Value Adjustment Board. The TRIM notice mailed in August is the starting gun: you have 25 days from the mailing date to file a petition.¹⁹

Before filing, contact the property appraiser’s office to request an informal conference. Many disputes get resolved there without a formal hearing. If not, file a VAB petition; the filing fee is no more than $20 per parcel.¹⁹

Bring evidence to the hearing: recent comparable sales, photographs of condition issues the appraiser may have missed, and documentation of anything that reduces market value. The burden is on you to show that the appraiser’s valuation exceeds fair market value. For a modest residential dispute, handling it yourself is usually the more practical route.

1
Palm Beach County Property Appraiser. 2025 Final vs. Proposed Millage Rates
2
South Florida Water Management District. Final Public Hearing on Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Final Millage Rates
3
Florida Department of Revenue. A Florida Homeowner’s Guide – Millage
4
Florida Department of Revenue. Truth in Millage (TRIM)
5
Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. Who We Are
6
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 192.042 – Date of Assessment
7
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 196.031 – Exemption of Homesteads
8
Palm Beach County Property Appraiser. The Homestead Exemption
9
Florida Department of Revenue. Save Our Homes Assessment Limitation
10
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 193.155 – Homestead Assessments
11
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 196.202 – Property of Widows, Widowers, Blind Persons, and Persons Totally and Permanently Disabled
12
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 196.082 – Discounts for Disabled Veterans
13
Florida Department of Revenue. Property Tax Benefits for Persons 65 or Older
14
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 193.1554 – Assessment of Nonhomestead Residential Property
15
Palm Beach County Constitutional Tax Collector. Palm Beach County Public Access Service Portal
16
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 197.162 – Tax Discount Payment Periods
17
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 197.172 – Interest Rates on Delinquent Taxes
18
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 197.432 – Sale of Tax Certificates
19
Palm Beach County Property Appraiser. File a Petition