Tarrant County Proposes to Reduce Property Tax Rates

Although Tarrant County Commissioners are considering a new proposed budget aimed at reducing property tax rates, it seems that most Tarrant County homeowners will still receive a higher tax bill than anticipated.

Due to the rising home values as well as the cost of materials and labor to build new homes in the area, Tarrant County, TX property owners will be faced with these higher property tax bills this year even though the county’s tax rates are set to decrease.

In 2020, the average home value in the Texas county was around $223,000. In June of this year property values increased, making the new average home value in Tarrant County around $238,000.

According to Tarrant County administrator G. K. Maenius, “The need for housing is one thing that has overcome the people that want to sell their homes and that is a supply and demand issue which causes home values to go up.”

The result gives most homeowners in the county higher tax bills than they are used to. The latest tax rate proposal does have an upside though, as there is some relief for property taxes for homeowners already added into the proposed tax rate.

Administrator Maenius also indicated that “This tax or this budget we’re going to be presenting to you today actually reflects an additional decrease in the property tax rate. Last year our tax rate was .234 per $100 valuation in the proposed budget and we have pushed that down about a half a percent, .229 which represents a 2.1% decrease in the tax rate.”

Unfortunately, this does not only apply to residential properties in Tarrant County, as commercial properties in the area are feeling the same effect and should expect to see their tax rate to increase as well.

Maenius indicated that the county has had over $4 billion worth of new construction, which is a good indicator of continued growth as well as an increase in the value of current commercial properties. While good for the community, this still means a property tax increase for property owners in the county.

County officials are quick to note that although there has been an increase in property taxes this year, there has actually been a property tax rate reduction in four of the past 10 years and that Tarrant county has the lowest tax rate of all of the six big counties in the state of Texas. This is something they are proud of and hope to continue in the future.

The updated property tax was reviewed in a report to the county commissioners as was the proposed budget, which will be voted on in September.