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C19 has heavily impacted national, state and local economies, and that might be something of an understatement. I'm getting a little worried, though. Texas cities and counties have a LONG history of using property taxes as an "ATM" when they need money for something. Property taxes have already reached and passed the crisis point for many Texas homeowners. I'm wondering if all this fiscal devastation might be setting the stage for a massive property tax increase next year.....

Many municipalities use both property taxes as well as sales tax as sources of revenue. Many cities will not reduce their budget expenses, and sales tax revenue will be down for this year. Where else would they make up that lost revenue?

I was wondering when it would come around to this.

Houston's Mayor Turner proposed raising property taxes 10% while people were piling their wet belongings in the front yard after Hurricane Harvey. He learned from that and has not suggested a property tax increase while people are still dying.

philip964 wrote: Tue Apr 28, 2020 1:37 pm I was wondering when it would come around to this.

Houston's Mayor Turner proposed raising property taxes 10% while people were piling their wet belongings in the front yard after Hurricane Harvey. He learned from that and has not suggested a property tax increase while people are still dying.

People are going to continue to die every day...so no new taxes?

Fortunately, you are at least a little protected from this now. It does take some alertness, but you can stop the tax increases. If the city or county wants to increase taxes past a certain point, they will need to get a ratification election from the people to allow it. How you vote on that depends on you and your city and the specific conditions to each, but you can vote no.

There are two steps to keeping property tax in check. The first step is to watch the appraisal. This is done by your local appraisal district, which is an independent agency that cannot tax to help insulate it from raising appraisals to generate more tax money. Watch your appraisals and appeal them if necessary. The second step is the taxing units who set the tax rates. Watch for the notices when they propose a tax rate. Go to the hearings and let them know how you feel about it. Be prepared to vote in November against the tax hike if necessary.

Tax rate adjustments aside, tax appraisal bumps net the same effect. Our county notices went out recently, and we all were bumped from 15% to 110%, a few even more by anecdotal cries. Needless to say, there's gonna be a lot of protest filings, and to boot, online protest is the only option to be heard at the moment.