Clay County Solid Waste and Stormwater Assessments: Disabled Veteran Exemptions

Florida's property tax exemptions do not reach non-ad valorem assessments, which appear on the same tax bill. Clay County has its own exemptions from three of them, each for a homestead owned and used by a veteran who was honorably discharged with a service-connected total and permanent disability and who holds the Property Appraiser's exemption under section 196.081 (see the Florida entry), and for the people that exemption covers, such as a surviving spouse. A veteran who meets section 196.081 but has no exemption only because the $25,000 homestead exemption already leaves no tax qualifies too, by giving the County the same proof. One exemption per person, for one homestead. Solid waste. Sections 10-111.1 (the disposal assessment, which reaches unincorporated Clay County, Green Cove Springs, Orange Park and substantially all of Keystone Heights) and 10-146 (the collection assessment, unincorporated Clay County and substantially all of Keystone Heights) paid the whole assessment for these veterans. On August 25, 2026 the Board adopted an ordinance, 3-2, reducing both to 50% of each assessment, finding the full exemption "no longer sustainable". The budget workshop papers of August 11, 2026 put about 4,000 properties on the exemption, with a $96 disposal assessment and a $262 collection assessment, and the full exemption's cost at $384,000 and $1,048,000 a year. The County Code on Municode, codified through April 2026, and the County's solid waste exemptions page still describe the full exemption. On September 8 a commissioner moved to revisit the cut along with the stormwater exemption, but the motion that carried dealt only with stormwater, and nothing in the Board's records through September 22 changes the 50%. Stormwater. The Board created a stormwater utility (Ordinance 2026-33, July 28, 2026) and on August 25 adopted a stormwater assessment for unincorporated Clay County from FY 2026/27, capped at $110 a year, directing a 50% disabled veteran exemption. When the exemption resolution came before it on September 8, 2026 the Board amended it to 100% and adopted it 5-0. An older stormwater maintenance assessment in certain benefit units, under section 18.3-136, also exempts these veterans in full. How to apply. Apply in writing, under oath, to Clay County Environmental Services (3545 Rosemary Hill Road, Green Cove Springs 32043; 904-284-6374; [email protected]) before the end of the fiscal year the exemption is for, with proof of the total and permanent disability. For FY 2026/27 only, anyone already exempt from either solid waste assessment gets the stormwater exemption automatically; after that it needs its own application. Each year the County mails a renewal certification to everyone exempt the year before, and the exemption continues only if it is signed and returned. False statements must be repaid with 12% interest. The same ordinances and resolution give a hardship exemption to low-income homestead owners, which is not veteran-specific.