Reporter-News Archives Tuesday, September 23, 1997 Property tax reduction won't happen for many Abilene homeowners By RICHARD HORN Staff Writer When all the math is done, many Abilene homeowners won't be seeing the property tax reduction they expected and may even receive bigger tax bills. In promoting a successful constitutional amendment boosting school homestead exemptions, state leaders told homeowners it would lead to an average tax cut between $130 and $150 a year. True, their total bill for school, city and county property taxes will be lower than it would have been without the amendment. But for many homeowners, especially in the Abilene school district, rising property values and tax rates eat up much of the tax cut. They'll find out when tax bills reach their mailboxes within the next week or so. "I think it's going to be a little bit disappointing to people when they were expecting the full $140 or $150 reduction," said Richard Petree, Taylor County's chief appraiser. "But most people are just glad to see it decline some amount. "We'll still see property taxes remaining on the front burner of people's minds," he said, "and they're eventually going to demand something that's greater than this token change." That was the general feeling among homeowners when told what their tax bills would be, based on calculations by the <I>Reporter-News<I>. Many Texans were remarkably skeptical about the tax break to begin with. "I knew they failed to really change things," said Carl Thomas, whose total property tax bill will fall about $45. "But hey, I'd rather have it go down than go up." The average homeowner in the Abilene school district, with a house valued at $52,930 last year and $54,848 this year, will pay about $53 less in total property taxes. The average homeowner in the Wylie school district, with a house valued at $95,080 last year and $99,099 this year, will pay about $80 less in school taxes but only about $35 less in total taxes. The reduction is so small in this case because the increase in values is so steep. About 60 percent of homes in Taylor County increased in value, Petree said, largely because of a strong economy and real estate market. In general, the winners will be people whose homes are in the lower price range and whose values stayed the same or decreased. If you're outside the Abilene school district, which raised its tax rate the most noticeably of all the county's school districts, your tax return will be a little better. But even homeowners whose property tax bill is higher than last year are better off than the real losers this year: Business owners to whom homestead exemptions don't apply. They face the full brunt of higher tax rates. "They get hit big time," Petree said. "They'll pass it on to consumers eventually, but they just can't automatically jack up their prices. I think it's going to be a surprise to some business people." The Abilene City Council, planning a bond election this fall, chose to keep its property tax rate the same as last year. That's just slightly above the effective rate, or the rate needed to bring in the same amount of property tax revenue as last year. Taylor County and the Abilene school district both raised their rates this year. All school districts, to varying degrees, struggled with the effects of a state-mandated increase in the base teacher salary. Using $1 billion in surplus funds, the Texas Legislature reimbursed school districts for the increased homestead exemption and the teacher pay raise. But several school leaders pointed out the reimbursement used in last year's budget figures, failing to take into account increased costs and a ripple effect of the increase in base salaries. "That tax cut did help take some of the burden off local property taxpayers," said Ray Sullivan, a spokesman for Gov. George W. Bush. "It did not completely reform the system. Without the tax cut, he said, "the taxpayers of those districts that decided to raise rates would be paying a whole lot more." As for the increase in property values, voters have a chance this November to at least partly reform the system. A proposed constitutional amendment would limit increases in residential property values to 10 percent per year.   Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: Enter their email address below: texnews.com Reporter OnLine Local Sports Texas Sports Copyright ©1997, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications