The historic rise in Texas home values has left many owners facing monumentally higher property tax bills, and this has sent their elected officials scrambling to provide relief by lowering rates.
Texas overall has some of the highest property taxes in the nation, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area has some of the highest in the state, so jurisdictions across North Texas are jumping on the tax relief bandwagon.
➤ The Pflugerville City Council approved its new property tax rate for the 2022-23 fiscal year during its September 13 meeting, passing a $0.4813 per $100 valuation.
Under this new rate, which is 1 percent lower than the previous rate, the average Pflugerville homeowner will see an increase of 11.7 percent in their yearly tax bill — approximately $155 — due to higher property values.
With the new rate, the city’s total expected tax revenue for the 2022-23 fiscal year is about $44.1 million, up 20 percent from last year.
The newly approved budget of $380.6 million will allocate approximately 16 percent to the city’s general fund and 41 percent to some of the city’s capital and infrastructure projects.
➤ The Pearland ISD board also adopted its new tax rate on September 13, which was approved at $1.3027 per $100 of property valuation, an approximately 1 percent decrease from last year.
The Pearland City Council had previously approved a ceiling for its own new tax rate at $0.628765 per $100 valuation, a 10 percent drop from the previous rate. The city could adopt an even lower rate when it finalizes its new budget.
➤ Plano City Council has decreased its property tax rate from $0.4465 to $0.4176 per $100 valuation for the fiscal year 2022-23, a decrease of 6.5 percent.
The council approved the new rate during its September 12 meeting as a “no new revenue” rate designed to produce the same amount of taxes as in the previous year, despite rises in property values.
Homeowners will still be eligible for a maximum 20 percent homestead exemption under this new rate.
Plano is not the first city to adopt this sort of exemption for residents. The growing Dallas suburb of Frisco did the same back in June to also lower its property-tax burden for residents.
➤ The Woodlands Township board of directors approved a tax rate of $0.185 per $100 assessment on September 12 as part of its newly adopted $148.43 million budget for 2023, a 17 percent drop from the current rate of $0.2231.
This is the lowest tax rate in the town’s 12-year history and will produce less revenue than the previous year despite the increase in assessed values. Collectively, property owners will pay $2.5 million less in taxes than in 2022.
➤ Collin County, which includes the city of Dallas, also reduced its property tax rate, but not enough to actually lower resident’s tax bills.
County commissioners approved both a new $434.6 million budget and a decreased property tax rate for the fiscal year 2022-23 of $0.152443 per $100 valuation. While this is down 9.3 percent from the current rate of $0.168087, the average homeowner will pay approximately $115 more compared to last year without a homestead exemption.
This is because the median home price in Collin County is currently about $525,000, up from just earlier this year and about 29 percent higher than last year.
Home prices in Collin County are continuing to go up, a trend that can be seen across the county and especially in Dallas, and residential sales in the city and surrounding areas are seeing a spike as well which the council cited as the reason for lower rate.
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