CAMERON—Tax appraisal notices to Milam County residents will be mailed out one month later in 2019, May 1 rather than April 1, the earliest date allowed.
Chief Appraiser Dyann White said that’s because the Milam Appraisal District (AD) wants to be sure it has analyzed the sales data and “done the absolute best job we can.”
She noted while the AD recently received a perfect score on the Texas Comptroller’s Methods and Assistance Program (MAP) review a recent study by the Property Tax Assistance Division of the comptrollers office has found the Rockdale ISD values are under appraised for the second year in a row.
White said the state performs an audit of values by comparing sales prices to the AD’s appraised value.
“The appraisal district is required to be at a margin of 95% to 105%, basically plus or minus 5%, of the State’s opinion of value. In a property value study of Rockdale ISD for 2018, the state found that city residential values are at 93%, and rural residential property is at 82%.”
That could have big consequences.
“Laws are written in the tax code that assume appraised values reflect true market value,” she said. “The state then makes up the gap between school tax collection and the budget needed by the school. If the appraisal district appraises below actual market value, the state can choose to fund the school using the values they believe are correct,” she said.
“When that happens, the school district loses money from the state,” White said.
White said a state official recently noted a large number of appraisal districts came in too low on their rural values.
“He believes the increase is due to the extreme rise of people coming into Texas, specifically the triangle from Houston to San Antonio to Dallas,” she said.
“We are right in the middle of that triangle,” White said. She said longtime local residents are shocked “when we show them what property is selling for, and we only have a small portion of the sales data that is available to the state.”
White urged local buyers and sellers to report their purchase prices to the AD. “Value must be at market price,” she said. “Owners choosing not to share the data with the AD may eventually cause our local schools to lose funding.”
White asked for patience and cooperation.
“We cannot argue with the sales date provided by the state,” she said.
“People are paying more to own property here,” White said.
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