Tax protests do matter
I thought they didn't.
In theory, the city of Austin should be indifferent to appraisals. Contrary to popular belief, the city does not necessarily get more money if property values rise. If the value of every property in Austin doubled this year, city property tax bills wouldn't double. The city would still only be allowed to collect 3.5% more money for its operating budget from those properties than it collected the year before.
However, during last week's meeting of the City Council Audit & Finance Committee, the high level of tax lawsuits are actually affecting the city's revenue.
The issue is that City Council passes its budget and the tax rate in August based on appraisals set in the summer by the Travis Central Appraisal District. However, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people who are not only protesting their appraisals, but suing TCAD after their protest is denied. In some cases, they're winning and getting their appraisals revised.
As a result, the city is not able to collect as much money as anticipated because the tax rate that it approved was based on a higher number. The revised appraisal also throws off the city's budgeting for future years.
"This is going to adversely affect our current year property tax collections and because of the way the state property tax calculation works, there will probably be adverse effects as we project revenue for Fiscal Year 2027," explained Deputy Budget Office Director Erik Nelson.
Shit.
