ASSESSING THE COST OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT; SARASOTA COUNTY'S PROPERTY TAXES ARE LOW, BUT NONDEDUCTIBLE, NONCAPPED ASSESSMENTS MAKE UP THE DIFFERENCE.(A SECTION)

Byline: Rod Thomson STAFF WRITER

One of the annual pains of home ownership is getting the property tax notice and seeing how much money will be taken to help run local government.

Reaction generally ranges from groans to outrage.

But Sarasota County residents, some of the wealthiest on average in Florida, pay some of the lowest property taxes - and that takes into account high property values and unusually high special assessments.

It does not, however, include capital storm-water assessments or the 1 percent sales tax, both of which pay for improvements in infrastructure and not the daily operations of county government.

The comparison, conducted by the county's budget department, looked at six counties in Southwest Florida and reported that Sarasota County had the second lowest overall rate of property taxation and assessments - just a few dollars higher than Lee County.

Budget analysts added that garbage pick-up in Lee County is paid by …