Property Tax on Davis Islands, Tampa
Florida's property tax system runs on a genuinely unusual mechanism -- an assessed-value cap that protects a longtime homesteaded owner but resets completely at sale -- and that mechanism matters more on Davis Islands than in most neighborhoods, given how much of this market is second-home and investment buying.
Save Our Homes: Florida's Core Property Tax Mechanism
Florida's Save Our Homes amendment, part of the state constitution, caps the annual increase in a homesteaded primary residence's assessed value at 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower -- regardless of how much the property's actual market value rises in a given year. That is a real, powerful protection for a longtime owner-occupant in a fast-appreciating market: a home that has been homesteaded for a decade or more can carry an assessed value dramatically below its current market value, meaning a correspondingly lower tax bill.
The catch, and it's a real one: that cap applies only to a homesteaded primary residence, and it resets to full current market value the moment the property changes ownership. A new buyer does not inherit the previous owner's capped assessment. This is the single most important property-tax fact for anyone buying on Davis Islands to understand up front -- the tax bill a seller has been paying is very likely not the tax bill a new buyer will pay, and the gap can be substantial in a neighborhood where prices have appreciated significantly over the years a given home has been owned.
Homestead vs. Non-Homestead: A Real Fork in the Road for This Market
Florida's homestead exemption reduces the taxable value of a permanent primary residence -- generally up to $50,000 total, with the first $25,000 applying to all levies including school taxes and an additional $25,000 (on the portion of assessed value between $50,000 and $75,000) applying to non-school levies. Combined with the Save Our Homes cap, a genuinely homesteaded Davis Islands property gets real, ongoing tax protection over time.
Non-homestead property -- second homes, investment property, anything that is not the owner's permanent primary residence -- gets neither the exemption nor the 3% Save Our Homes cap. Instead, non-homestead residential property is capped at a looser 10% annual increase in assessed value. Given how much of the Davis Islands market involves second-home buyers, investors, and high-turnover luxury purchases, a meaningful share of properties here are taxed on close to full market assessed value rather than a capped figure -- a real, structural difference from a market dominated by longtime owner-occupants, and one worth modeling explicitly before assuming a low tax bill.
Portability: What a Move-Within-Florida Buyer Should Know
Florida also allows homestead "portability" -- an existing Florida homesteaded owner moving to a new Florida primary residence can transfer some or all of the dollar-value benefit of their prior Save Our Homes cap to the new property, within certain limits, rather than starting over at full market assessment. This can matter for a buyer relocating from another Florida homesteaded property to Davis Islands as their new primary residence.
This page does not have a confirmed, current dollar cap or specific mechanics for portability as applied to a Davis Islands purchase, since the exact calculation depends on the specifics of the prior homestead and the new purchase price. Confirm current portability rules and file the required paperwork through the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's office -- this benefit is not automatic and requires an application.
Hillsborough County and City of Tampa Millage
Hillsborough County's total 2025 millage runs roughly 15.73 mills countywide, with about 6.50 mills of that funding schools -- a figure that now includes an additional 1-mill school tax Hillsborough County voters approved in November 2024, effective starting July 2025, specifically to fund public-school salaries and programs. Because Davis Islands sits inside Tampa city limits, the City of Tampa's own municipal millage -- 6.2076 mills per a City Council vote -- layers on top of the countywide rate, a real difference from unincorporated Hillsborough County properties that don't pay a municipal rate at all.
This page does not add those figures together into one official combined number, since a specific parcel's actual bill also depends on special taxing districts and whatever exemptions apply to that specific owner. One secondary source estimated a full combined city-plus-county-plus-school-plus-special-district rate near 19.71 mills (roughly a 1.97% effective rate before exemptions), but this page treats that as an approximate composite rather than a confirmed primary-source figure. Get the exact current millage breakdown and the exact bill for a specific parcel from the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser and Tax Collector directly.
The Annual TRIM Notice and the Appeal Process
Florida property owners receive an annual Truth in Millage (TRIM) notice, typically in August, showing the proposed assessed value and proposed millage rates from each taxing authority before the final tax bill is set later in the year. That notice is a real, structural checkpoint where an owner who believes their assessment is inaccurate has a formal window to object -- through an informal conversation with the Property Appraiser's office or, if unresolved, a petition to the county's Value Adjustment Board.
This page does not have confirmed current deadlines or specific procedural steps for a Value Adjustment Board petition in Hillsborough County for this research pass, since those dates can shift year to year. Confirm the current TRIM notice timeline and appeal deadlines directly with the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's office if a specific assessment looks wrong.
What This Page Does Not Know
This page does not have a confirmed, single official combined millage figure for a specific Davis Islands parcel, confirmed current portability dollar-cap mechanics, or confirmed current Value Adjustment Board deadlines for Hillsborough County. It also does not have a confirmed breakdown of how much of the current Davis Islands market is homesteaded owner-occupants versus non-homestead second-home and investment buyers, since no primary source with that specific split was found.
Before budgeting a specific tax figure, get the exact current millage breakdown, exemption eligibility, and portability calculation for a specific parcel directly from the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's office, and consult a Florida real estate attorney or CPA for anything involving portability across a prior Florida homestead.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data sourced from: Florida's constitutional Save Our Homes provision and the state's general homestead-exemption framework (Florida Department of Revenue); 2collegebrothers.com's Hillsborough County property tax guide, JVM Lending's Hillsborough County property tax guide, and Ownwell's Tampa property-tax trend page for current millage figures, the City of Tampa's 6.2076-mill rate, and the November 2024 voter-approved 1-mill school tax effective July 2025. Facts not independently confirmed and not invented here include: a single official combined millage figure for a specific Davis Islands parcel; current-year portability dollar-cap mechanics; current Value Adjustment Board deadlines for Hillsborough County; and the homestead-versus-non-homestead ownership split specific to this neighborhood. Confirm all current property tax facts directly with the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's office before budgeting a specific figure. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, or financial advice.