DeSoto County Solid Waste Collection Assessment: Exemption for Disabled Veteran Homesteads

Article IV of chapter 9 of the DeSoto County Code (Ordinance 2006-35, as amended by Ordinance 2007-18) requires improved residential property in the unincorporated county to use the franchised collection service and makes it subject to a solid waste assessment, which the Board may levy on the tax roll by the uniform method of section 197.3632 (section 9-73). The exemption. Section 9-54(b), "Exception for disability", says: "In the spirit of State law on this subject, the homestead residential real property owned by a person entitled to and who successfully qualifies for exemption from ad valorem taxation pursuant to F.S. § 196.081 (Totally Disabled Veterans and Surviving Spouses and for Surviving Spouses of First Responders Who Die in the Line of Duty), F.S. § 196.091 (Disabled Veterans Confined to Wheel Chairs) and F.S. § 196.101 (Totally and Permanently Disabled Persons) shall be exempt from the imposition of the solid waste assessment under this article, but shall receive the residential collection service provided by the franchisee." It reaches the surviving spouse who carries the section 196.081 exemption, and keys only to those exemptions, not to the $5,000 exemption or the combat discount. The other assessment. The Board's September 8, 2026 rate resolution for the Solid Waste Disposal Benefit Unit (Article XIV of chapter 10, Ordinance 1991-07) sets $45.50 a residential dwelling unit and $91.00 a business unit for 2026-27 and grants no exemption, so a veteran exempt under section 9-54(b) still pays the disposal assessment. No 2026-27 rate resolution for the Article IV collection assessment appeared in the Board's records, so check the tax bill: a veteran whose homestead carries the section 196.081 or 196.091 exemption and who is billed a collection assessment should ask the county's Solid Waste office or the Tax Collector to remove it under section 9-54(b).