TRIM Notices — Brevard County, Florida

The TRIM notice is the Notice of Proposed Property Taxes that the Brevard County Property Appraiser mails each August, a parcel-by-parcel preview of every proposed tax rate and hearing date, not a bill.

TRIM stands for Truth in Millage. The Department of Revenue explains that in 1980 the Florida Legislature passed the Truth in Millage (TRIM) Act so that taxpayers could see which government is responsible for each levy and what is owed to each one, and that the property appraiser sends the resulting notice to each owner (Florida Department of Revenue). In Brevard County that sender is BCPAO, which lists August as the timeframe when the notices are mailed (BCPAO important dates).

The heading leaves no doubt about payment. State law requires the first page to read NOTICE OF PROPOSED PROPERTY TAXES and, beneath it, DO NOT PAY, THIS IS NOT A BILL, followed by a statement that the taxing authorities will soon hold public hearings to receive opinions from the general public before taking final action (Section 200.069). The bill comes later from a different office: BCPAO notes that November 1 is the date the Tax Collector, not the Property Appraiser, mails tax bills (BCPAO).

BCPAO mails Brevard TRIM notices in August, and state law sets the outside limit at 55 days after the tax roll is certified, which falls on August 24 when certification happens on July 1.

The timing is built from the certification date. Each taxing authority must tell the property appraiser its proposed millage, its rolled-back rate and its hearing date, time and place within 35 days of certification, and the deadline for mailing the notice is the later of 55 days after certification or 10 days after the roll is approved (Section 200.065). The statute counts the certification date or July 1, whichever is later, as day 1. With July 1 as day 1, day 31 is July 31 and day 55 is August 24, the latest normal mailing date for BCPAO.

The Brevard County Budget Office posts the county and school hearings in one notice: the Board of County Commissioners listed a July 21, 2026 hearing and set hearings for September 8 and September 22, 2026 at 5:05 PM in Building C of the Viera government center, while the Brevard County School Board scheduled hearings on July 28 and September 10, 2026 at 5:30 PM at 2700 Judge Fran Jamieson Way (Brevard County Budget Office; Proposed Budget page). State law places the tentative hearing within 80 days of certification but not earlier than 65 days after it (Section 200.065), which with July 1 as day 1 runs from September 3 to September 18, a window the September 8 county hearing in Viera falls inside.

The first page of a BCPAO TRIM notice lists each taxing authority on the parcel in seven columns that compare last year's taxes, this year's taxes with no budget change, and this year's taxes under each proposed budget.

State law fixes the layout. The notice carries a brief legal description, the owner of record and the parcel's tax information in columnar form, and there shall be seven column headings: the taxing authority, last year's taxes, last year's adjusted tax rate, this year's taxes if no budget change is adopted, the rate needed for the proposed budget, this year's taxes under that budget, and the date of the public hearing (Section 200.069). Three of those are numbered as Column 1, 2 and 3, and the back of the page explains them. Column 1 shows last year's taxes on the parcel. Column 2 applies last year's budgets to this year's assessment. Column 3 applies each proposed budget. Under each heading the statute requires an entry for the county, the school district levies, the municipality or municipal service taxing unit, the water management district and each independent special district, so a parcel inside Palm Bay, Melbourne or Malabar carries a city row that an unincorporated parcel in Micco does not.

The comparison that matters sits between Column 2 and Column 3. The statute says the difference between columns 2 and 3 is the tax change proposed by each local taxing authority and is not the result of higher assessments, so a Palm Bay or Melbourne owner can separate a value increase from a rate decision (Section 200.069). The same explanation warns that the figures do not reflect early payment discounts, which are a maximum of 4 percent of the amounts shown on the form.

The second page carries the values BCPAO set as of January 1: the parcel's market value and, for each taxing authority, the assessed value, the value of exemptions and the taxable value for both the previous and current year, along with each assessment reduction and exemption applied (Section 200.069). That is where a Brevard homestead's capped assessment and its exemptions appear. The notice also states in bold that the final bill may contain non-ad valorem assessments, such as roads, fire, garbage, drainage, water or sewer, that are not shown on the notice.

The rolled-back rate printed on a BCPAO TRIM notice is the millage that would bring each taxing authority the same property tax revenue as the prior year, leaving out new construction and similar additions to the roll.

Section 200.065 describes the calculation: the property appraiser gives each authority instructions for computing a millage rate which, exclusive of new construction, additions to structures, deletions and boundary changes, would provide the same ad valorem tax revenue as was levied during the prior year, and that millage rate shall be known as the rolled-back rate (Section 200.065). The notice prints it in the column for last year's adjusted tax rate, a term the TRIM statute defines as the rolled-back rate (Section 200.069). When rising values push the rolled-back rate below the current rate, a taxing authority that keeps the old rate is above 100 percent of the rolled-back rate, and the statute then requires its hearing advertisement to carry the heading NOTICE OF PROPOSED TAX INCREASE (Section 200.065).

The rolled-back rate sets the agenda at every Brevard hearing. In the hearings on the tentative and final budgets, the first substantive issue discussed shall be the percentage increase in millage over the rolled-back rate, if any, and the purposes for which the extra revenue is sought (Section 200.065). The Sebastian Inlet District, which levies in both Brevard County and Indian River County, shows the other outcome: for its September 9, 2026 hearing, the tentative 0.1518 mills accepted on August 12, 2026 represents the rolled-back rate of 0.1518 mills, with $6,367,599 expected from Brevard County (Sebastian Inlet District agenda).

A Brevard owner who disagrees with the TRIM notice can ask BCPAO for an informal review of the value, file a Value Adjustment Board petition within 25 days of the mailing, or speak at the rate hearings printed on the notice.

The informal route comes first in the law. Any taxpayer who objects to an assessment may request the property appraiser to informally confer with the taxpayer, and the property appraiser or a member of the staff must then confer with the taxpayer regarding the correctness of the assessment (Section 194.011). The notice itself tells the owner to contact the county property appraiser by phone or in person if the market value, an exemption or a classification looks wrong, and to go to the Value Adjustment Board if that does not resolve it (Section 200.069). In Brevard County that contact is BCPAO.

The formal route has a short clock. A valuation petition may be filed on or before the 25th day following the mailing of the notice by the property appraiser (Section 194.011), and BCPAO describes that deadline as usually falling in the third week of September (BCPAO). The Department of Revenue specifies that the petition is one of the DR-486 forms, filed with the clerk of the court (Florida Department of Revenue). In Brevard County the Value Adjustment Board petition page is run by the Brevard County Clerk of Court and Comptroller, and filing fees are made payable to Brevard Clerk of Courts (Brevard Clerk VAB petitions).

A rate cannot be appealed to the Value Adjustment Board; it is argued at the hearings. The Department of Revenue calls those hearings the best opportunity for property owners to comment on budgets and millage (DOR). For the county's own levies, the Brevard County Budget Office answers questions about the hearings at (321) 633-2153; the county's adopted budget for the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2026 was $2,509,876,505 (Brevard County Budget Office). A city rate, such as Palm Bay's or Melbourne's, is argued at that city's own hearing, whose date, time and place the statute requires in the notice's seventh column (Section 200.069).

Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the Brevard County Property Appraiser and Brevard County Budget Office websites.