Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins saw the email and immediately texted Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings.
“I said, ‘We need to look at this,’” Jenkins said Tuesday at Commissioners Court. The email that shocked Jenkins said the county’s taxable property values rose 10 percent this year. That meant many homeowners would see a large jump in property taxes, if rates don’t change.
“That is not good for our economy for people to be strapped with that big of an increase,” Jenkins said.
The jump in appraised values came after the real estate market had a “big year,” said Ken Nolan, chief appraiser of the Dallas Central Appraisal District. He said demand has outpaced the county’s housing supply.
“We’ve seen bidding wars erupt in certain neighborhoods,” Nolan said. “In the 35 years we’ve been here, I don’t think we’ve ever seen a real estate market like this.”
The appraisal district decides preliminary market values, then allows property owners to protest those values if they believe they’re too high. The protest filing deadline is May 31, and hearings will continue through July 19. After final values are certified July 25, the county and other taxing entities will determine their tax rates which will lead to property owners’ final tax bill.
The county can only control a small portion of property owners’ tax bills because it is one of five taxing entities – which include the school district, city, hospital and community college. Even so, Jenkins said Tuesday that he texted the mayor and the DISD superintendent because he wants to gather “partners” to discuss lowering tax rates.
Total home values across the county rose 12 percent and total commercial values rose 18 percent, Nolan said. Not all of that is taxable, however, because of exemptions for the elderly, disabled and homesteads.
For taxable values, the preliminary figures showed a 10.7 percent increase in residential market values and an 11.3 percent jump for commercial property values. New construction rose 16 percent.
The county anticipates that after taxpayers protest their values and many see reductions, the final taxable value will be $205.5 billion. That would be an 8.9 percent jump from last year’s final value, Ryan Brown, the county budget director, said in an email to commissioners.
According to Nolan’s presentation, 73 percent of county homeowners saw an increase this year, 2 percent decreased and 24 percent stayed the same.
Meanwhile, for commercial property owners, 30 percent saw a rise, 1 percent decreased and 69 percent didn’t change.
Commissioner Elba Garcia said Texas should stop being one of a handful of states that doesn’t require real estate sale prices to be disclosed. That way, appraisers would have timely information they need, particularly for commercial properties.
Though residential sales also aren’t required to be disclosed, appraisers can access that information through real estate websites such as MLS.com, Nolan said. He said for commercial properties, appraisers estimate the income that could be derived from a property instead of using sales prices. He said it’s an accurate system.
Many county homeowners suffered sticker shock when they saw their new appraisals this month.
Kyle Henderson, 39, a scientist who lives in Old Lake Highlands, said his appraised value jumped 75 percent this year.
State law caps at 10 percent the annual increase on properties that owners claim as their homestead. So Henderson’s house was appraised at $207,500 last year, jumped to $364,500 this year, but he’ll only have to pay taxes on $228,250 of it. At current rates, his property taxes would total almost $5,000.
“I bought a small house so I could afford it,” he said. “It’s turning out not to be the case.”
Article courtesy of Dallas Morning News:
http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2016/05/dallas-county-property-values-jump-10-percent-causing-homeowners-sticker-shock.html/
Print
