County lends listening ear; reminds property owners that they don’t set appraisals, increases based on the market
(Seguin) – Complaints and concerns over the recent spike in home values did not go unheard this week at the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court meeting. As most property owners know, home values in Guadalupe County indicated an average increase of approximately 33 percent. Most folks are still in shock after receiving their tax notices in the mail two weeks ago.
That shock and surprise spilled over into Tuesday’s meeting at the Guadalupe County Courthouse.
Among those sharing their concerns during the public portion of the meeting was property owner Mike Mercer. Mercer says, unfortunately, everyone will have to pay the price of these higher values.
“I’ve got two mobile homes over here off of Highway 20. I want to say we paid less than $200,000 for it back in 2000. Now, it’s valued right at $400,000. I rent those two out. Those people I think work at Caterpillar – one does and then the other works someplace else. The rent is going to go up $150 a month. They can’t make the rent now. I’ve been having to subsidize them, and they are fine folks. I don’t want to kick them out, but I will have no choice. I can’t afford the property. We own some property over here on the bypass, raw land, valued at $60,000 an acre. I pay $1,000 a year, taxes on raw acre ground and it won’t be long, I can’t afford to keep stuff,” said Mercer.
Also sharing personal insight into how this will impact him is Resident Michael Geer. Geer says he is not only suggesting that something be looked at and assessed but that a reasonable plan be put into place so that livelihoods aren’t further weakened.
“My house went up more than half. My mothers-in-law’s went up 35 percent. So, I’m saying I’ve had the worst two years of my business. It looks like we make money but my father-in-law made a wise decision in 1965. He bought my place for $35,000. I built most of my house. I did. So, I am assessed value where I am going to have to pay the county rent of $1,000 a month to live in my house. What I’m telling you is I’ve never made less money than I am now. I am poorer than I’ve ever been and I’m probably going to have pick to sell my homestead because my property tax went from about $4,000, $5,000 a year to $10,000 -12,000. I don’t have any means of income unless I build furniture. So all I’m really saying is there has to be something done, “said Geer.
Although the commissioners are prohibited from addressing the public concerns there at that moment, Guadalupe County Judge Kyle Kutscher did thank them for voicing their concerns. He also explained the position of the court.
“We definitely understand the situation that is going on in our county. It has become to a critical level of what property is selling for, what taxes have become. We are a very conservative commissioners court, a conservative county trying to take a proactive approach of being prepared for growth but also being mindful that every single dollar that we spend comes from a pocket of a hardworking Guadalupe County taxpayer and resident,” said Kutscher.
Kutscher adds that he worked as a land and ag appraiser for the appraisal district before he was a county judge and county commissioner.
“I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that this court, our county does not dictate what appraisals are set at. Texas Property Tax Code laid out and approved by the state of Texas requires Texas appraisal districts to appraise property at 100 percent of market value which is dictated and based on what people are willing to pay for that property. So, what Michael talked about years ago, changed for a little old lady so to speak on IH 35 – had her homestead — could be sold for $3 million. I saw those appraisals go up to that. The state then changed it and said for that specific use on that homestead, those appraisals could not change. They had to valued at a specific amount for that purpose. You also have homestead caps. You have over 65 exemptions which freeze taxes, and you are able to port those exemptions like what was talked about in Florida at 55 to another property if you were to move. So, those things are in place, the problem and what we are seeing in Guadalupe County is everyone wants to be in this part of the world,” said Kutscher.
Kutscher says even as county judge, he is not immune to increased property values. He says it also impacts his family. He also knows that when they see increased appraisals like this on an average of 30 to 35 percent across the county, it will be their job to be as conservative as possible when discussing the budget.
“What is being paid for residential property is I mean so far and above from what we are all used to seeing. My own house which I am going to protest my appraisal this year went up close to $100,000. I don’t plan on selling my house. We live on a family farm, 200 acres and plan on being buried there but the taxes have gone up considerably. I say all of that to say this, our portion is a governing body of the county, and our authority is not on the appraisal side. When we get your appraisals based off what properties could sell for, we then have to assess and take count of what services need to be provided to you and how the tax rate needs to be set in correlation with those appraisals. You have increased appraisals; you should have a reduced tax rate. The problem is that we can not reduce below what we are charging because we are growing and we have to talk about expanding fire and emergency services, EMS, law enforcement, roads all those things but we have to be mindful that your appraisal went up a considerable amount and we are limited by the state to a 3.5 percent revenue cap but we know that if we arbitrarily keep the tax rate up which we have authority on setting, you are paying a whole lot more,” said Kutscher.
In their attempts to appeal any number that does not reflect accuracy, taxpayers are reminded that the process of the appraisal district is to get to that potential market value as close as possible.
Property owners have 30 days upon receiving their notice to file for an appeal. This year’s deadline is May 15 but because it falls on a Sunday, residents will have until Monday, May 16 to submit their request.