Sunday, May 5, 2024
Although appraisals skyrocketed this year, Hood County homeowners are expected to receive a tax relief in 2024, following a unanimous decision from the Hood County Commissioners Court on July 25.
During the meeting, commissioners approved a 10% homestead exemption to property taxes that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
"It came to my attention that Tarrant County passed a resolution similar to this a couple of months ago, so I started looking into it to see what it was about and what our options were,” Nannette Samuelson, precinct 2 commissioner explained. “And as I looked into it more and more, I thought, ‘You know, this is something that we can do for the residents and taxpayers of Hood County.’”
In simpler terms, the 10% homestead exemption means that 10% of a home’s appraisal value will not be taxed by the county — meaning Hood County residents will see a decrease in the property taxes that they owe starting next year.
The court resolution on the homestead exemption states that elevated inflation levels and softening economy have made it apparent that taxpayers need relief from burdensome taxation.
Additionally, homestead exemptions will promote homeownership and reduce the likelihood of Hood County residents being taxed out of their homes.
The court resolution also quotes from economist Milton Friedman, who famously stated, “I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances, for any excuse, for any reason, whenever possible.”
“I agree with Milton Friedman, and that at any time we have an opportunity to cut taxes, we should take it,” Samuelson said. “We hold ourselves up as being one of the most conservative counties in the state, so here's our opportunity to put our money where our mouth is."
Resident John Highsmith spoke in favor of the homestead exemption, while providing additional information about what other states are doing in terms of tax relief.
"When you look at 2021 or 2022, 43 states have adopted tax relief, and often in both those years, and I think that that tax relief was an attempt to give taxpayers some help, because of the way they've been hit economically due to the federal government inflation,” he explained. “Then for 2023, there are 12 states that are considering income tax cuts in 2023: Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, and eight of those 12 states have already adopted reductions.”
Highsmith also quoted a Tax Foundation article from Feb. 1, 2023, which states the three highest tax reductions have already been accepted: Utah, with a 32.3% tax reduction, Idaho with 24.2%, and Arkansas at 18.7%.
"I think we're seeing a trend nationally to do things like this,” he added. “I think it is very important, especially given the economic situation that we've been in.”
Resident David Farris also agreed that the homestead exemption would reduce property taxes but added that the county should do everything they can to “save the taxpayers’ money,” including repairing the Hood County Jail.
Resident Zach Maxwell said he was in favor of the homestead exemption if it would actually save taxpayers’ money — which he argued that it didn’t.
He asked Commissioner Samuelson if she could provide numbers on how much the exemption would save in county revenue, which she was unable to provide at the time.
"There are other people that pay property taxes other than homesteads,” Maxwell said. “And one of the things that you had mentioned in your resolution was incentivizing home ownership. As a young man with a young family that is fortunate enough to own their home, I did go through many years of renting, but if you don't have those numbers, if you don't know exactly how much that's going to cost to pay for that exemption, then somebody else is going to be paying for that burden, which is going to be small business owners, and renters.”
“This is the only allowable way that the county can reduce taxes is through this exemption,” Samuelson said.
Maxwell reiterated that he didn’t believe the exemption would reduce taxes.
"You're just shifting it from homeowners to small business owners and renters because if you don't understand it, you don't know how much that's actually going to cost to pay for the exemption itself in revenue,” he said. “You have to pay attention to that number because if you don't, then that burden is then going to shift somewhere else, and it is actually going to increase property taxes to business owners and renters.”
Maxwell recommended that the commissioners wait to vote on the homestead exemption so that numbers could then be calculated and provided to the public as a “data-driven initiative,” instead of a “feelings-driven initiative.”
Precinct 4 Commissioner Dave Eagle chimed in that he was in favor of the homestead exemption due to the “out of control appraisal district.”
“I've heard many, many complaints from constituents in this county over the last several years about people having their appraisals go up huge amounts, and they file a protest with the district and go up there and basically get hosed,” Eagle said. “So, we're not going to get relief from the appraisal district at the way it's composed at this moment."
He added that it’s impossible to know what the numbers are going to be next year, when the Hood County Appraisal District at the time had yet to send in the final appraisal numbers.
"This 10% proposed break exemption for people who own their homes takes it out of the appraisal district's hands, and anything we can do to do that right now, based on the current makeup of this appraisal district, I have to go along with,” Eagle concluded.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Kevin Andrews told Maxwell he had calculated the “number he had asked about,” which came out to $1.1 million based on “this year’s percentages.”
"I've spent a lot of time looking at this and trying to figure it out, and I believe that this is a good thing for the residential homeowners of this county,” Andrews said.
Hood County Judge Ron Massingill chimed in that he agreed with what both sides were saying, but that the county had time to make necessary adjustments before the tax exemption would be implemented next year.
He also added that with several new people moving into Granbury, cutting county expenses would also end up cutting back on necessary services like law enforcement and first responders.
"I'm for giving tax relief where we can and it is true that it will shift the burden, but we got to see how much and maybe the sales revenue of all these new people coming here, maybe that will offset something,” he said. “We don't know what they're gonna do.”
Jack Wilson, precinct 3 commissioner, said he agreed with Eagle’s assessment of the appraisal district, but wanted to table the agenda item until more data and revenue numbers could be presented.
"Since we don't have the numbers, it doesn't go into effect till next year, and it's not going to affect this budget cycle, I would make a motion that we table this at this point until we get a better handle on what kind of changes are going to be done at the appraisal district,” Wilson said.
He also suggested potentially increasing the homestead exemption from 10% to 20%, which was the limit as proposed by the Texas Tax Code.
Wilson's proposed motion failed due to lack of a second, which prompted Samuelson to make a motion to approve the resolution establishing a 10% Hood County homestead exemption to property taxes.
The final motion was carried unanimously.
