Tag Archives: Austin tax appraisal challenge

City Council Unanimously Approves Commercial Tax Appraisal Challenge

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By Bill Oakey – May 28, 2015

In a historic move likely to elicit statewide attention, The Austin City Council on Thursday voted unanimously to proceed with a formal challenge of commercial property valuations to the Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD). Several citizen speakers, including Leigh Murrin with Real Values for Texas and Vicki Totten with Austin Fair Tax spoke eloquently in favor of the challenge.

The rallying cry from both citizens and our Council Members this afternoon was all about fairness. In my view, this decidedly bold step will enable our City to shine a beacon for fairness across the state. Mayor Steve Adler summed up the sentiments when he stated that “Everyone here on the Council dais agrees that our appraisal system is broken.” What Austin has done will inspire other cities to sit up and take notice that the battle has begun. We all recognize that comprehensive tax reform must be done through the State Legislature. Although that task has seemed insurmountable in the past, we now find ourselves on a firm path toward that goal. People seeking to galvanize the spirits of taxpayers across the state have witnessed the lighting of the spark today. With a lot of hard work yet to come, our sights are already fixed on the 2017 legislative session.

Mayor Adler has signaled a strong desire for a spirit of cooperation among the various taxing jurisdictions impacted by today’s decision. Discussions are underway with various involved parties to ensure that each taxing entity is kept in the loop at every step of the process.  Earlier concerns expressed about potential delays in tax roll certifications and possible interruptions in revenue disbursements are being addressed quite satisfactorily. One solution being considered is to send estimated bills to taxpayers, so they can make their annual payments at the usual time and still claim their Federal income tax deductions.

We must all keep in mind, however, that the opponents of this action will be working every bit as hard to counter the success of our challenge. On that note, we are fortunate to have new City leadership with good experience and expertise. Mayor Adler, who brings many years of legal practice to the table, has established a cooperative tone at the outset. And by voting unanimously to support the appraisal challenge, the entire City Council approaches the endeavor on a united front.

Several City Council Members mentioned the compelling need to address affordability in Austin. They acknowledged that rapidly escalating tax appraisals are an oppressive burden for long-term residents, including many in our minority communities. It was also announced today that TCAD staff and City officials will work together over the next two weeks to take the necessary steps to ensure that the challenge does not impede the critical functions of each taxing authority. TCAD has assured everyone that no adverse effects will happen during that initial two-week period.

On Friday morning at 10:00 AM the Travis County Commissioners Court will meet in executive session to consider their role in Austin’s appraisal challenge.

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Come And Speak 4:00 PM Thursday At City Council On Tax Appraisal Challenge

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By Bill Oakey – May 26, 2015

The Austin City Council must decide by June 1st whether to launch a landmark challenge to the Travis Central Appraisal District over the undervalued commercial properties in this year’s tax appraisals. You can help convince them make the right decision to go forward with the appeal. Come to the City Council Chambers at 301 West 2nd Street, this Thursday May 28th. Bring your neighbors and friends. Email, text, Tweet and Facebook the link to this blog posting. We have obtained a 4:00 time certain for speakers on this topic, which is Item #4 on the agenda. You can sign up to speak, using the kiosks in the lobby of the Council Chambers anytime between now and Thursday’s meeting.

Please keep in mind that this is not an adversarial action against the TCAD appraisal officials. They have been very cooperative with our City Council members and City staff. This is the legally required process to correct major flaws caused by the Texas appraisal system. The law does not require sales price disclosure on either residential or commercial real estate transactions.

Here are some new developments on the Council’s pending decision on the appraisal challenge. Two major stumbling blocks could cause Travis County, AISD, or any of the other taxing entities in our area to oppose Austin’s challenge to TCAD. Both involve a potential delay in TCAD’s new certification of the tax rolls after the revised commercial appraisals have been calculated.

For one thing, taxpayers who usually make their payments to the Travis County Tax Office at the end of the year might lose the opportunity to do that, and then lose their Federal income tax deduction for this year. But a solution to that problem was discussed at Tuesday’s City Council Work Session. A plan is underway to allow taxpayers to pay an estimated tax by the end of the year and still use that for their Federal tax deduction. Then they would simply make a final supplemental payment once the new tax rolls are certified and final tax bill amounts are determined. With these tax receipts coming in, the taxing entities would not face a delay in receiving the revenues needed to fund their operations.

Plans are also being considered that might allow TCAD to certify the new tax rolls faster and shorten the delay period. City Council members are looking into whether each taxing entity could make a small contribution to TCAD and the Travis County Tax Office, so they could hire temporary workers to help them through the clerical work required to finish the new certification and get new tax notices sent out

We’ll see you in the City Council Chambers on Thursday afternoon. We are one step closer to ending the egregious inequity of undervalued commercial properties that has plagued residential taxpayers for too many years. For more information on the flawed Texas appraisal system, please visit Real Values for Texas at this link. Read their report and watch their excellent video.