Georgetown Needs Relief From Growing Property Tax Burden

City officials are actively opposing efforts in the Texas Legislature to reform property taxes.  The Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 2, the Property Tax Reform and Relief Act of 2017. The bill will reduce the rollback tax rate to 5% and require automatic elections if property taxes grow beyond the 5% threshold.

The city failed in the Texas Senate, so now they are focusing their lobbying efforts on the Texas House, and in particular, District 20 Representative Terry Wilson. They want to kill this effort as it restricts their ability to raise taxes without voter approval. Taxes can be raised above the 5% threshold, but, it requires approval by the voters.

City officials and their lobbyists at the Texas Municipal League will raise all kinds of objections that are superfluous and distract from the main objective of the legislation which is to give voters the opportunity to approve/disapprove tax increases greater than 5% annually.

Take a look at the tax levy against citizen's property over the last 5 years for Georgetown:

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Citizens tax bills are growing at a 9.53% compound rate over the last 5 years. Has any one's income been growing at that rate? Highly unlikely!

For those who argue that the increased property tax levy is caused by the "exploding" population growth, the numbers do not substantiate that claim. Here are the population numbers from Georgetown's 2016 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR).

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Yes there was a one year growth spurt between 2014 and 2015 of 8%, but the 5 year compound annual growth rate, which is more representative, is about 4% annually. Also note the growth rate between 2015 and 2016 has leveled off to about 4%.

Thus we see that the city is extracting property taxes from it's citizens at more than double the population growth rate! This is why property owners need the automatic right to vote when tax Levy's exceed 5% in one year. 

Contact your District 20 Representative and let him know you want him to support Senate Bill 2 or the House equivalent.