Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine | Page 18

Truth In Taxation Property Taxas In a Nutshell By: Cheryl E. Johnson, PCC Galveston Co. Tax Assessor Collector [email protected] There are four phases in the Texas property tax system – Appraisal (when the county appraisal district locates, lists and appraises properties), Equalization (when notices of value are mailed and property owners have the opportunity to protest those values), Assessment (when tax offices assist governments with adoption of tax rates, calculate them and prepare bills) and Collection (no explanation needed). By the end of July (or August in Harris County), appraisal districts will complete the Equalization phase by certifying values and providing them to tax offices and local governments and the Assessment phase will begin with budgets being hammered out and tax rates adopted. Embodied in the Texas Constitution and the Tax Code are requirements that property owners be notified of each of these actions. These requirements, Truth in Taxation or TNT, insure the tax process is transparent and that you have the opportunity to provide input. Sadly, few show up – whether at the CAD to protest the value or at government budget workshops and tax rate hearings. Preliminary Value Millions of dollars in advertising will be spent through the Increases end of September as quarter page ads are published by Texas government for the purpose of keeping you informed of what County 17% they are up to. Will you read them? You need to, as they will provide dates and times of meetings and whether a tax increase Bayou Vista 15% is proposed. CLS 15% With property values at all-time highs, local officials need you to remind them that spending plans are being developed with our money, not theirs and that, since values are up, tax rates should come down. That is how this tax system was intended to work. Legislators will tell you that they are not to blame for tax increases – local elected officials and those that elected them are. They will tell you that it is your duty to attend the hearings and to speak up – for or against the proposed spending plans and if you don’t, you shouldn’t complain. 18 MOMENTUM / August 2016 Dickinson Friendswood-GC Galveston Hitchcock Jamaica Beach Kemah La Marque League City-GC Santa Fe Texas City Tiki Island 12% 19% 26% 15% 35% 20% 15% 20% 20% 1% 15%