After the passage of Senate Bill 2, known as the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019, local governments were tasked with implementing all 152 pages of the new law. While some provisions of SB 2 contained a delayed implementation date for counties with a population of 200,000 and below, all counties were subject to new terminology, new calculations and new publication requirements. The House Ways and Means Committee requested feedback on SB 2’s implementation and asked for suggestions to improve the law.
The Tax Assessor-Collector’s Association of Texas (TACA) maintained a running list of items needing to be addressed in the law, with the goal of not only submitting feedback to the Committee, but also working with the Legislature to fix these issues. Some key recommendations included:
- Clarifying the procedure for submission of a certified estimate and requests that the certified estimate be submitted in the same manner as the certified roll.
- Repealing the new provision that does not allow for the tax assessor-collector to certify a collection rate lower than the collection rate for the past three years.
- Changing the language on the new postcards required to be sent to taxpayers directing them to the property tax database and adjusting when information needs to be uploaded to the database and when it should be taken down due to the information no longer being accurate.
To review TACA’s legislative submission of SB 2 recommendations, click here.
The Texas Conference of Urban Counties (CUC) submitted ways to strengthen the law and provide more property tax relief. CUC’s submission is available here.
The Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas also provided written testimony that can be seen here.
For information about this article, contact Katy Estrada or Rick Thompson.