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Ad Valorem Taxes (Property Taxes) Ad Valorem taxes are taxes based on the appraised value of property, especially real property. Those who own real property pay ad valorem taxes. Ad valorem -taxes are generally assessed in mills* that is, thousandths of a dollar of assessed value. The state mandated millage cap is 10 mills per local government, excluding voted millages. The Board of County Commissioners' policies allow revenue from ad valorem taxes to be used for both operating and capital project expenditures. Ad Valorem tax revenue is the major source of revenue for Indian River County. In fiscal year 1969-96 1991-19921 it accounted for 37% of the county's revenue. The general fund millage rate is currently set for fiscal year 1996/91 1993/94 at 571512 4.3766 mills, with a level of assessment of 100. Public Utility Charges within government entities, there often exists a set of departments which provide goods and services to the general public in a manner similar to the private sector. Such departments, classed under the general title "enterprise funds" must raise revenues from outside the government sector. Public utilities are those enterprise funds dedicated to providing water, sewer, electric, garbage or other similar services to the general community. Public utility charges are the fees assessed by the public utility to the customer using the services. Revenue received from utility charges -in FY 89-96 91-92 was approximately 6 17 percent of all county revenues. Because taxes alone cannot totally keep up with the increasing costs of services, governments have turned to user charges as an alternate revenue source. User charges are only assessed only against those who directly benefit from a good or service that the government provides (taxes, by contrast, are compulsory charges levied by the government on the general public to finance service performed for a common benefit). Public utility charges are examples of users fees, as are those fees imposed for recreation facility uses, site plan review, golf course play, building permit issuance and other services. Special Assessments Special assessments are compulsory payments levied on real property for specific benefits generated by public investments or services; the assessment levied must fairly reflect the actual costs of the improvements. County revenues which fall under the general category of special assessments are street paving assessments,