Florida property owners can save money on their propert tax bill by paying several months prior to the final due date. But does Disney Vacation Club take advantage of these savings on behalf of its owners?
Final Notices of Property Taxes for 2015 were recently released for the Disney Vacation Club resorts located at Walt Disney World. As we reported last month, ad valorem taxes for 2015 are higher that projected for almost all resorts.
However, property taxpayers in Florida are offered discounts of 1% to 4% if they pay their taxes early. If taxes are paid in November 2015 — four months before the March 2016 due date — taxpayers receive the maximum discount of 4% on their taxes.
Disney has confirmed that it does, in fact, pay the property taxes early to take advantage of the maximum 4% discount. By paying taxes early, Disney Vacation Club members realize a savings on their annual maintenance fees ranging from $0.0439 to $0.0562 per point, depending on resort.
The chart below shows the final tax bills for eight of the nine DVC resorts located at Walt Disney World. Tax statements for Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, the newest DVC resort, are not available.
{multithumb thumb_width=600 thumb_height=450 thumb_proportions=bestfit}
In addition to displaying the savings realized by paying the property taxes early, the chart compares the ad valorem tax amounts previously estimated in the 2015 budgets to the actual amounts that will be paid. The actual tax amounts are slightly higher than estimated for six DVC resorts, with Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort having the largest shortfall at $0.0155 per point. These shortfalls will be added to the maintenance fees that will be collected for these resorts from DVC members in January 2016. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas and Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa actually paid more ad valorem taxes in 2015 than they should have. DVC owners at these resorts can expect to receive a credit on their 2016 maintenance fees for overpaying their 2015 taxes.
Wil Lovato is a contributor to DVCNews.com and has been a Disney Vacation Club owner since 2009. His DVC Home Resorts include Bay Lake Tower, Animal Kingdom Villas, and Aulani. He can be found posting on many Disney discussion forums under the username of “wdrl”.
