What happened
Governor Abbott recently signed a bill an $18 Billion tax cut for all Texas property owners.
Property taxes due to appraisals have been a big issue in Cameron County and SPI, where over 37,000 protests have been scheduled this year. That number is usually around 15,000. Property values initially increased by 35%, then dropped to 30% after the protests.
Why it matters
For SPI vacation homeowners and business owners, if voters pass the bill in November, there will be a 20% cap on appraisal increases for properties valued at $5 million or lower.
Vacation owners have been selling their properties here in SPI for rates much lower than their appraisal.
Island Matters has received submissions from our Letter to the Editor, highlighting the issues that property owners have been dealing with in Cameron County.
“My appraisal went from $640,000 to $1.6 million, and I couldn’t get anywhere with the appraisal board,” one subscriber wrote. “Even after I showed the board (that) I have sold my property for $925,000… just makes me sick”.
Another subscriber, who also sold his property and says he won’t come back to the island and explained his frustration.
“Their appraisal was $50,000 more than my neighbor’s unit (that) just sold,” he told Island Matters. “How sales of two identical units in my building, and the selling price of my unit were irrelevant to them, was very upsetting. In tears, I asked if I had any recourse. They said no since I was selling the unit, and therefore kept the value tens of thousands of dollars beyond what they knew it was selling for.”
What now
The bill will be voted on by the citizens of Texas in the November elections and would be implemented in January 2024, for the 2023 tax year.
