Texas voters approved two state constitutional amendments that will lower their property taxes in an election that ended Saturday.
One of the approved amendments reduces the property taxes that elderly and disabled Texans pay for public schools. It corrects previous legislative mistakes to ensure those rates remain lower than those of other homeowners.
The other approved measure will lower the amount homeowners can reduce the appraised values of their residences — from $25,000 to $40,000 — for the school-tax portion of their bills.
Texas voters passed both statewide ballot measures by decisive margins. Voters cast ballots in favor of the proposition aimed at homeowners who are 65 and older or disabled by a margin of 86 percent of the total 1,316,294 votes on that item.
The second proposition, for exemptions that will lower appraised values on residences, passed with 83 percent of 1,333,434 voters casting ballots in its favor. The measure, which will cost the state more than $744 million from 2024 to 2026.
Both measures leave the state looking for ways to make up the difference in funds going to school districts. Since Texas has no income taxes, local and regional entities rely heavily on income from property and sales taxes to pay their bills. School-district taxes usually make up most of homeowners’ property tax bills.
Some state legislators want to tap a $12 billion surplus in state revenue to pay for some public school costs. In addition, the state is suing the federal government for the right to use $3 billion in federal stimulus funds to pay for tax cuts.
Texas has some of the highest property tax rates in the country. Recent jumps in average home prices have resulted in higher appraisals for tax purposes — some of which have shocked property owners.
Homeowners can appeal appraisals with local districts, which can lower their taxes substantially. In addition, Texas state law dictates that if homeowners who live in or on the property being taxed file for a homestead exemption, the appraised value of their home for tax purposes can’t go up more than 10 percent a year.
The state has taken other recent measures aimed at reducing or minimizing increases in property taxes. Lawmakers in 2019 put a limit on school districts’ tax rates and required cities and counties to seek voter approval if they want to raise their total property tax revenue by 3.5% or more than the previous year.
In addition to the amendments related to property taxes, some local and regional issues were decided in Saturday’s elections — particularly school board and city council races. In San Antonio, voters approved a $1.2 billion municipal bond with $150 million dedicated to affordable housing.
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