Increased Appraisals Push Tax Bills Higher

Local politicians like to boast that they have held the tax rate constant or even lowered it, while your tax bill goes up because the appraised value has increased. Some of your Georgetown city council like to make this argument that they are fiscally conservative and that you, the property taxpayer is better off because your property is worth more this year than last year. This in spite of the fact that you have not received a pay increase that covers the increase in property taxes.

Kenric Ward at Watchdog details the latest issues with the county appraisal districts(CADs).

"By state law, county appraisal districts (CADs) are tasked to do one thing: set the property values that raise revenue for local taxing agencies.

Headed by boards of directors, CADs are bureaucratically opaque, institutionally autonomous and fundamentally incestuous bodies with no effective public oversight.

By state law, county appraisal districts (CADs) are tasked to do one thing: set the property values that raise revenue for local taxing agencies."

Seeking to democratize the captive CADs, Bettencourt, R-Houston, proposes mandating that all directors be elected officials within their respective counties.

“This makes them directly answerable to the citizens,” Bettencourt said of provisions in SB 2. 

Just another reason to have your state senator and state representatives back Senator Bettencourt's bill SB 2.