“Does anyone know what bill or rider changed the homestead deduction so substantially?”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Josh Bassett

“Dear Popville,

It’s March 3, so I decided to go look up my property tax assessments online to see if anything crazy happened (as sometimes happens in “developing” neighborhoods). When I looked up my primary home, my brain had a slight meltdown. My total assessment was *slightly* lower, but my taxable assessment was substantially higher. I was kind of busy, so I set it aside for a minute to let my brain regroup, and then looked again. It took me a minute to figure it out, but the homestead deduction had dropped from $90-something-k to $70-something-k. I don’t remember a big uproar about this change, so what gives? This deduction reduction (what’s your function?) will increase the property taxes on my home almost 10% next year (officially, 9.996%, so the 10% “cap” doesn’t apply and I don’t have room to complain on those grounds). Does anyone know what bill or rider changed the homestead deduction so substantially? Does it apply to all homes, or just a subset (my home is a condo)?”