Property Taxes

A message from Jim Wright

Dear Property Owner:

YOUR PROPERTY TAXES MAY be going UP !! If you haven’t already received your 2019 Notice of Appraised Value, you should soon, and the assessed values are going up dramatically. This is affecting everyone in Bell and Coryell counties and across Texas. However, there is some sunshine in the forecast. The Texas legislature is having a hearing on capping property taxes at 2.5% per year and is meeting soon to discuss the issue and try to pass legislation to cap the amount that values can be raised in a year. I have attached a copy of a flyer on House Bill 2 which discusses what Governor Abbott and the legislature are trying to get passed along with a white paper with the specific details.

JWC can offer some assistance, but sales prices have gone up the last two years. There are many comparable sales available for the tax appraisers to use to justify their valuations and this makes it difficult to appeal and win. You can access the Bell County Tax Appraisal district at www.bellcad.org and Coryell County at www.coryellcad.org to check your current valuation. There is also an online protest process if you think your valuation is unfair. If you have questions or need to discuss, please contact us. You will receive a flyer called Property Taxpayer Remedies with your assessment, but the protest process is not very satisfying and the deadline for filing a protest is May 15, 2019. If you elect to protest the value, follow the procedures for filing a protest carefully, as deadlines are strict, or you can hire a tax protest company, but don’t expect much from the protest company. I tried one last year and wished I had done it myself.

We are all affected by rising property taxes, and no one likes it, but there is very little that can be done, except to hope that the legislature does do something to STOP the increases. You can help by contacting your elected officials and expressing your displeasure. Until we start replacing these same old tax and spend representatives, we’ll never see any change.

Thank you for your continued business.

Sincerely,

Jim Wright
Owner/Broker

Click here to read the Texas Taxpayer Transparency Act