New Mini Site Launches Aimed at Commissioners Court

New Mini Site Launches Aimed at Commissioners Court

Ahead of the October 8 Harris County Commissioners Court meeting where they are scheduled to vote on an 8 percent property tax rate increase, Houston Realty Business Coalition launched a mini-site aimed at the court’s three supporters of the increase: Judge Lina Hidalgo and Commissioners Rodney Ellis and Adrian Garcia.

“HRBC believes in smart, fiscally conservative legislative changes,” Alan Hassenflu, Chairman of HRBC said in the group’s press release, “We cannot stand behind this property tax rate increase. The County doesn’t require these funds to maintain its core services. This is negligent, and we vehemently oppose this tax rate increase.”

The court voted in early September to call for three public hearings and a vote to adopt a new tax rate of $.065260. Hidalgo blames property tax reform legislation passed by the legislature as the reason they must adopt the rate. Currently, local entities are allowed up to 8 percent more in taxes than the year before without calling for a public vote, anything above that needs to be approved by voters. The legislation, which takes effect next year, limits that to 3.5 percent, so many entities are attempting to squeeze as much as they can out of taxpayers before the lower limit goes into effect.

HRBC’s new site allows property owners to enter their appraised value and calculate what their new tax bill would be if the rate is adopted. The site is aimed encouraging Hidalgo, Ellis, and Garcia to drop their support for the increase.

1 Comment

  • jason gary
    September 26, 2019

    Please get on board with this if you can. The more people that can voice against it the better.

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