"Frozen" Tax Under Fire by City Staff and Some Council

The City of Georgetown enacted a freeze on property taxes in 2004 for people over 65 years, those who Homestead their property, those who are disabled at any age, and for disabled veterans.  These "frozen" taxes manifested themselves in the 2005 tax year.

Some city staff and council persons are concerned about the uneven tax burden on city residents caused by the "frozen" taxes.  The following analysis was provided by city staff to council members at the last council workshop to support their concern.  Notice it focuses on assessed valuation, not tax revenues!

The staff calculates the city is missing out on collecting $2,870,000 from the property owners because the Assessed Valuation is frozen for those entitled by Texas state law.

A look at the Sun City residential property tax revenues, provided by the Williamson County Tax Assessor/Collector, shows that any unevenness in tax receipts is likely caused by other factors.

It is easily seen that actual tax revenues collected in Sun City from the "frozen" property owners grew at a compounded annual rate of 10.88% from the initial freeze year.  Approximately 80% of the Sun City residences were "frozen" in 2013.

The city budget has grown at approximately 8% plus over the last 8-10 years.  Clearly, the "frozen" tax revenues are growing faster than the city budget.  Any uneven tax burdens placed on city property owners is not caused by the "frozen" taxes.  Any perceived unevenness between those with "frozen" taxes and those whose taxes are not "frozen", could be alleviated by reducing the tax rate, as that would only affect those whose taxes are not "frozen".

Let your city council person know that they need to focus on tax revenue extracted from residents, not tax rate!  The city budget should not be increasing faster than inflation plus population growth!  Right now inflation + population growth is 7.2%.  The city needs to pass a budget that is less than or equal to 7.2% over the last budget!  The State of Texas has done that, why not Georgetown!