Last week, the Houston Business Journal ran this assessment from Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt of the likely impact of the Perry/Sharp education/tax package on taxpayers in the Houston-Harris County area:
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt has released the results of a recent analysis by his office estimating that House Bill 1 would lower property taxes on the average Harris County home by only $23 next year, followed by an expected decrease of $268 the following year.
“Any tax relief is good, but the relief offered to Texas homeowners this year would have been considerably more had the Legislature lowered the current annual appraisal cap from 10 percent to 5 percent,” said Bettencourt. “Unfortunately, that legislation was never debated. And with Houston and Dallas remaining two of the nation’s hottest real estate markets, it looks like appraisal creep — or appraisal leap — will be with us for at least two more years.”
According to the tax office, figures show the average taxable value of a home in Harris County in 2005 — with homestead and other residential exemptions included — was $110,110. The 2005 tax bill on that home would be $1,909. Adding an average expected appraisal increase of 6.84 percent in 2006 brings the value of that home to $117,641. And despite the lowered tax rates as a result of House Bill 1, the 2006 tax bill on that home will be $1,886 — or only $23 less than the year before. The same home will rise in taxable value to about $125,876 in 2007, but significant rate cuts from House Bill 1 will lower the tax bill to $1,618 — a $291 cut over two years.
The problem of skyrocketing property taxes isn’t just a Houston-Harris County issue, as a recent report from KTRK-13’s consumer reporter Jeff Ehling makes clear:
You’ve probably seen the television ads from Governor Rick Perry announcing property tax relief. Well there is one community that is not seeing it.
In some cases those appraisals are up tens of thousands of dollars. It’s happening in Wharton County where property tax values are going up, but appraisals have stayed the same for 20 years, until now.
“It’s gone nuts, they’ve gone nuts,” said Floyd Fisher of El Campo.
Floyd Fisher’s property tax appraisal has him angry. The Wharton County resident says his small piece of land in el campo saw a huge increase this year.
“I had a piece of property that went from $17,000 to $235,000,” Fisher said.
And he’s not alone, the Wharton County Chief Appraiser says every acre of land and every residential home in the county has been reassessed at the current market value. That is something that had not been done in 20 years.
“I don’t believe that property values were at market value,” said Wharton County Chief Appraiser Tylene Gamble.
[snip]
People who live in Wharton County say they are not taking these increases lightly and they are even appealing to the governor for help.
“Governor Perry, you better care, because I’m going to tell you the voters, they’ve had it,” Fisher said.
Thanks to Mike McGuff and the KTRK crew for getting this story posted to the web quickly (I saw it initially on the news broadcast).
