Local tax values increase by $19.5M
By Donnie A. Lucas
Certified taxable values for each taxing entity in Shackelford County were announced recently, with an overall increase slowing to 3.2 percent for the county compared to almost eight percent last year.
The total taxable value for the county increased by about $19.5 million from $609,696,295 in 2022 to $629,191,588, according to figures released by the Shackelford County Appraisal District last week.
Despite the modest increase in values, school district homeowners are likely in store for a substantial decrease of about 35 percent in value thanks to a proposed increase in the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $100,000 as part of Senate Bill 2 (2023) passed over the summer by the Texas Legislature and signed by the governor.
The measure will be presented as one of 14 propositions Texans will decide on the General Election ballot in November.
“We had to certify values calculated both ways, depending if the referendum passes or fails,” said chief appraiser Clayton Snyder. “Of course, it will most likely receive voter approval, and school districts are having to set their budgets accordingly.”
Snyder said that he is currently working on getting this year’s rate calculations to each entity, a process previously known as the effective tax rate calculation and roll-back cap. Two years ago legislation changed the wording to “no new revenue rate” for the tax rate amount needed to bring in the same number of tax dollars as the previous year.
The increase in the homestead exemption is estimated to reduce school taxes by an estimated $5 billion statewide, the largest tax decrease in the history of the state. The plan by lawmakers is to use a portion of the state’s record surplus to increase funding for public education in order to offset the drop in taxes paid by homeowners.
Snyder also noted that the county could see a drop of about $25 million in value if the Hackberry Wind Farm disputes its values again for the 2023 tax year and adds the new amount to a lawsuit that has been filed over the 2022 values.
“We expect that they will add the disputed portion of their values for this year to the existing suit, which would be another $25 million in evaluation,” he said.
The wind farm has paid the taxes on the undisputed portion of values for 2022 and is expected to do so again for 2023.
“If they add the disputed amount to the lawsuits, those entities it affects can expect about the same revenue as the prior year from them, pending the outcome of the lawsuit.”
The market value of homes still accounts for most of the increase in property values this year, but the percent of increase is down considerably.
In 2022, the increase in property values on homes ranged from 20 to 30 percent, while this year the increase slowed to 10 to 12 percent, according to Snyder.
“The decrease is mostly due to the number of sales going down, partly because of a rise in interest rates,” he said. “The market is just not as active this year.”
Snyder said the value of oil has been flat this year, compared to a spike the year before.
“The value on minerals decreased by 2.6 percent or $1,084,719 in value from 2022 to 2023,” he said.
Minerals increased last year by about 30 percent.
The property values inside the City of Albany increased the most at 11.1 percent since a large part of the parcels inside the city limit are homes. The increase in the exemption for homesteads applies only to school districts, so homeowners saw an average increase in values of about 10 percent, from an average market value of $116,785 to $128,333.
There is a 10 percent cap on the increase of values, which means a home that increased in value by more than 10 percent last year could increase by up to 10 percent in value again this year.
Snyder said that the taxing jurisdictions in the county have all been sent their certified tax values and are in the processing of adopting budgets and setting tax rates for 2023.
