Page 14 - Abacoa Community News - February '21

Page 14, Abacoa
Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office

Dear Taxpayer: Homestead Exemption On • Civilian Disability
My office is busy • Institutional Exemptions
preparing the 2021 Tax Roll, Real Property • Florida Law Enforcement and First Responders
a report of the combined (Disabled in the line of duty)
value of all the property (real If you are a permanent Florida resident, you may be • Living Quarters for Parents or Grandparents (also
and tangible) in Palm Beach eligible for a homestead exemption, which can save you known as Granny Flat)
County as of Jan. 1. generally $750 to $1,000 in property taxes each year. All • Senior Citizen (Limited-Income)
This report will reflect homestead exemption applications must be submitted • Veterans Disability
the impacts that COVID-19 by March 1. • Widow/Widower Exemption
have had on property values A $25,000 exemption is applied to the first $50,000 For more information, visit pbcgov.org/PAPA or call
in Palm Beach County last of your property’s assessed value if your property is your Exemption Services at (561) 355-2866.
year. My staff are analyzing permanent residence and you owned the property as of Jan.
new construction, demolition, land splits, land combinations, 1. This exemption applies to all taxes, including school Portability — You Can Take It
ownership changes, and additions or removals of exemptions, district taxes. An additional exemption of up to $25,000
as well as market data reflected in sales of properties in 2020. will be applied if your property’s assessed value is between With You!
I wanted to share the latest projections (as of Jan. 11) for at least $50,000 and $75,000. This exemption is not
new construction to be added to the 2021 Tax Roll: applied to school district taxes. In addition, a homestead If you sell your home and buy a new one, there is good
▪ Single-Family Homes – 1,458 new buildings added exemption limits any increase to your assessed value to news – you may not lose all the tax savings accumulated
▪ Townhomes – 264 added a maximum of 3 percent each year or the amount of the over the years.
▪ Condominium Units – 354 added change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. Florida’s Save Our Homes provision allows you to
▪ Zero Lot Line Homes – 189 added Three ways to apply: transfer all or a significant portion of your tax benefit, up
▪ Commercial Buildings – 58 added • E-file at pbcgov.org/PAPA. to $500,000, from a home with a homestead exemption to
To date, an estimated 2,323 new structures will be • Visit one of our five service centers to file in person. a new home within the state of Florida that qualifies for a
added to the tax roll this year. These numbers are subject • Complete the application online, print it out, and homestead exemption. This is referred to as “portability.”
to change. This new construction has never been taxed mail it to the Property Appraiser’s Office. The application deadline for portability is March 1.
before and will add new value to the 2021 Tax Roll. New Once you qualify, your homestead exemption will You can E-file for portability when E-filing for your
construction contributes to a tax base while sharing the tax be renewed for you annually as long as you continue to homestead exemption. Or, if you have already filed for a
burden. qualify for the exemption. homestead exemption and need only to file for portability,
As the deadline to file for a homestead exemption Visit pbcgov.org/PAPA to E-file and for information visit our website or call Exemption Services at (561)
is March 1, this is an excellent time of year to review on other available exemptions for seniors, families, 355-2866.
your homestead exemption status and examine additional veterans, and more.
exemptions that may yield tax savings. In this month’s Office Closed Due To Holiday
newsletter, you will find information to help you do just that. Additional Exemptions
I hope you find it useful. In honor of Presidents’ Day, the Palm Beach County
Respectfully, If you receive a homestead exemption, you may be Property Appraiser’s Office (including all of our service
Dorothy Jacks, CFA, AAS, eligible for additional exemptions or discounts in the centers) will be closed on Monday, Feb. 15.
Palm Beach County Property Appraiser categories listed below. The application deadline for
We Value What You Value all additional exemptions is March 1.
scieNce ON the cUttiNg edge

The Scripps Research Institute News

Targeting Muscle Cells’ twentyfold compared to standard methods, thus allowing a
significantly lower dose of the therapeutic virus to deliver a gene
Insulin Receptors Allows of interest. It showed that muscle cells are very good targets for
More Efficient Gene Therapy gene therapy, says Jackson.
“Something unique about muscle tissue is its capillary

network. It allows the proteins produced there to easily
Method Could Allow Significant Dosage diffuse into the blood,” Jackson explains. “This platform
Reduction, Addressing Key Concerns, could be used for any disease where you want the protein
Scientists Find
The Scripps Research Institute News on page 15
The potential for gene therapy to address genetic diseases
is immense, but several challenges have held up progress.
Improving the efficiency of the gene delivery system could be
a viable way to resolve many of them, says Scripps Research, CAMPBELL AND KARLIK, P.A.
Florida virologist Hyeryun Choe, Ph.D.
In a paper published in the open access journal Molecular ATTORNEYS AT LAW
Therapy: Methods & Clinical Development, Choe and colleagues
report a more productive method of introducing therapeutic
genes: by programming the gene therapy vector to seek out
muscle cells, via abundant insulin receptors displayed on the Wills • Trusts • Estate Planning • Probate
surface of those cells.
The most-studied method of gene therapy has issues Taxation • Real Estate • Corporations
of excessive cost and high dose-associated toxicity risks,
Choe explains. Lowering the dose needed to bring about the
desired treatment should ease both problems, she explains. To
accomplish this, Choe and graduate trainee Cody Jackson sought
to engineer a viral gene delivery system to target muscle cells.
They reasoned that muscle cells’ longevity, among other traits,
would make them the best cells for the job.
“Muscle cells don’t divide, so you have them for your
whole life,” Choe says.
One of the ways scientists administer therapeutic genes is by
engineering viruses to deliver them into cells. They start with a
benign virus, such as the adeno-associated virus, or AAV, which
doesn’t replicate in humans, and reengineer its genome to carry
the genetic payload needed to treat or prevent disease.
The virus can be altered to display a protein fragment
perfectly structured to bind to a desired cell receptor, so that
it unlocks entry to a specific cell type, like a key made for
one specific type of lock. The next challenge Choe’s team Diane L. KarLiK
faced was to identify the most promising receptor on muscle
cells and find the right “peptide” or protein fragment, that
would bind tightly to that receptor.
The protein fragment that Choe’s team identified recognizes Tel: (561) 625-5220
muscle cells’ insulin receptors with high affinity, explains 3450 Northlake Boulevard Suite 210 Fax: (561) 625-5201• Mobile: (561) 797-5004
Jackson. They found the introduction of that insulin-mimetic Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33403 EMail: dlkarlik@aol.com
peptide boosted the efficiency of vector uptake by nearly