Young County’s property value rose 75 % since 2020

The debate over property tax reliefgot hot last week in Austin, with Gov. Greg Abbott threatening to veto Senate bills sitting on his desk if lawmakers don’t pass his plan to cut - or “compress”- school taxes.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pushed for a “Texas Two-Step” plan which includes both compression and an increase in the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $100,000.

The House and Senate were at loggerheads last week so we turned to Young County Chief Appraiser Jesse Blackmon to get perspective on the problem.

Enterprise: How much have Young County property values increased since 2020?

Jesse Blackmon: In terms of market value, which is our “gross” total value essentially, it has increased around 75% from 2020 till our current 2023 preliminary value for Young County.

Obviously there is a lot that goes into this number with mineral values, wind farms, new construction, etc. that change significantly year to year. The actual “taxable” value for the county during that same time frame has only increased around 35% for the county with all of the exemptions, ag. land, and other adjustments that take place to value prior to the tax calculations take place.

We have certainly seen sharp increases since COVID similar to what the rest of the state has. I would guess we are in the median or just under the median compared to the rest of the state in terms of the increases. Some areas have likely seen 150-200% increases or more in that time frame while others have been maybe closer to 40-50% on the low end.

Enterprise: Both the 75 percent and 35 percent increases seem like a lot. Is this rise normal for Young County?

Blackmon: There are certainly times when it wouldn’t be unheard of in Young County or appraisal districts in general, just not on the scale we have seen across the board.

Certain increases are typically more localized, such as an area that had not been properly reappraised in many years (districts not accounting for appreciation of values that occur over many years, new or missing improvements added from year to year or simply reappraising property to account for remodels, etc. since their last actual appraisal dates.)

Enterprise: How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect property values?

Blackmon: For what we have seen since COVID though, in terms of yearto- year increases in actual market value, it has been a phenomenon not really seen before, especially in such a broad way that has hit most all of Texas in varying degrees of increases.

Some of which were up to 50% in the hotter areas in a single year. This has happened really across a lot of other states as well.

Certain areas and properties previously were seeing more typical rates of maybe 5-10% per year on average before, with the exception of places like Austin, Dallas, Ft. Worth, … that had major growth and popularity and might have seen 15-25% increases at times but in the last few years those same areas may have seen 30-50% a year or more. I know there are certain areas that have likely seen increases over the last three years come in easily over 150% or more.

For the norm, a 5-10% increase per year would reflect a pretty healthy marketplace for a year-to-year average in terms of actual market value.

Enterprise: How do you come up with appraisals, and how does State law affect them?

Blackmon: With appraisal districts, we are always running behind the market due to the nature of our timelines and processes but our biggest struggle is always having the data to make proper adjustments. A 10% increase in the actual market for a given year could be just under the balance in our schedules and values as to not cause increases for that year. If the same increase occurred the following year however, it could cause us to have a 15-20% increase in a single year vs. us having the 10% increase each actual year. It is very common for it to take us a few years just to collect enough data to support changes in certain mar- ket areas, which can easily cause a big jump in one year due to the “playing catch up” aspect of mass appraisal. With COVID however, it caused many districts to not only play “catch up”, but also to stay moving with the rapid increases going on in real time.

Many times, if the values are in the acceptable range to not cause issues with the State and our Property Value Studies the Comptroller conducts every couple of years to ensure districts are valuing property at market value, it is very easy for districts to have the mentality of leave well enough alone rather than actively evaluating all the data each year and making proper changes. Very easy to roll on a few years and have to get caught up when the data can no longer be ignored.