Will coronavirus lead to higher property tax bills? It can, under new Texas law
Texas lawmakers last year passed a bill that limits how much cities and counties could raise property taxes.
They capped the property tax revenue increase at 3.5% over the previous year — and said local officials would have to get voter approval if they wanted to raise it more than that.
But a provision in Senate Bill 2 could end up raising tax bills for many Texans this year — all because of the novel coronavirus.
Section 26.07 ( b) of SB 2 notes that cities and counties that need more money to deal with a disaster may raise property tax revenue at the previous limit, which was 8%, without an election, if the governor has declared that area a disaster.
“This opens the door for local taxing jurisdictions to increase tax rates more aggressively,” Lorri Michel, a Texas property tax attorney, said in a statement.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recently cautioned cities and counties about using this loophole.
“No local government should even be thinking about raising taxes,” he said. “That is the worst thing that could possibly happen.”
Patrick said he believes the federal government will “step in and make most states whole, and cities and counties, as we go through this. So there’s no reason for anyone to have (to) raise taxes during this period of time.”
School districts will still be held to a 2.5% cap under SB 2.
Disaster declarations
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, authored the bill and shepherded it through the Texas Senate last year.
In a statement, he said the disaster wording was to provide for situations such as Hurricane Harvey, which slammed into the Coastal Bend in 2017 before dumping more than 50 inches of rain on Houston in just a few days.
“It was designed to allow an area, at their request, to recover from a set of physical damages,” he said.
“The House Ways and Means Chairman Dustin Burrows and I support Governor Abbott’s interpretation that the 3.5% limitation is still in effect.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on March 13 declared that the novel coronavirus is a statewide public health disaster. Tarrant County and Fort Worth leaders — along with communities across the state — followed with disaster declarations, issuing stay-at-home orders to try to slow the growth of COVID-19.
President Trump approved the disaster declaration for Texas, giving the state the ability to gain federal help through assistance programs.
Property values
Tarrant property valuations generally are sent out mid-April, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed that. They now should be sent out around May 1.
The deadline to file a protest is May 15, but Tarrant Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Jeff Law said he will honor protest filings until June 1 because of the delay in sending out appraisal notices.
