Even if property assessments go up, your tax bill should remain relatively stable, county officials say.
The county saw its tax base increase by $662 million, or 16%, with nearly half of that value coming from two solar farms totaling $283 million in new value.
“Increasing the homestead exception for your school districts will help reduce bills. I think for the average person, your ratings have gone up and your rates have gone down. The 3.5% increase shouldn’t hurt people too much,” said Cindy Hernandez, Wharton County tax assessor.
As home valuations rise, a rate of no new revenue predicts lower tax rates to compensate. It is possible that a 3.5% increase in the no new income rate will be less than the previous year’s tax rate depending on the increase in assessments and the decrease in the no new income rate. new income. However, a reduction in the tax rate does not always correspond to a reduction in the tax bill.
Tax districts, with the exception of water districts, are allowed to raise rates beyond no new revenue by 3.5% per year, which is the voter approval rating and represents the maximum that an entity can increase its tariff without an election. They can also choose to adopt a no-new-income rate, which caps the entity’s income this year at last year’s income based on these plots, or they can choose somewhere between these rates.
Homeowner value increases have not been evenly distributed across the county, with East Bernard ISD residents leading the county’s assessments with an $18,000 increase in average value, from $204,440 in 2021 to 222 $260 in 2022 on average. It also gives EBISD taxpayers the notoriety of being one of the only districts to see an increase in the assessed value of property after the homestead exception was increased from $25,000 to $40,000 from approximately $3,000 per appraised home.
Louise ISD also saw an increase of just over $1,700 per property, from $146,280 in 2021 to $147,990 this year. The other three ISDs, El Campo, Wharton and Boling, all saw their assessed value decrease by around $2,000.
The Ratings Review Board heard more protests this year, the highest number in more than 10 years, dropping from 2,375 in 2021 to 2,483 in 2022, but ruled on about 80 fewer contests.
Most protests were settled or withdrawn before being seen by the ARB.
The most significant change was the number of protests submitted and amended by the Central Assessment District, which increased by more than 200 cases, from 393 in 2021 to 602 in 2022.
