Jago Times "English Edition" Best Online Newspaper
The percentage of Collin County residential property tax protests has more than doubled in the past decade, paralleling skyrocketing home values, and at least two mayors of the five fastest growing municipalities, challenged the Collin Central Appraisal District this year.
Where only about 9.82% of 261,542 residential property owners in Collin County protested their home value in 2014, currently about 22.17% protested in 2023 — that’s 78,254 of 353,043 residential property protests, according to the Collin Central Appraisal District, the entity tasked with appraising home values. Overall, the appraisal district has received 114,391 protests — including commercial, residential, land and business personal property — since May 15, according to Karen Rhodes-Whitley, Plano’s director of budget and research.
This year’s protests, a 16% increase from 2022, have kept the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) busy operating 15 panels concurrently from May 22, 2023 through July 14, 2023, Rhodes-Whitley said.
As property taxes rise – thanks to explosive growth in Collin County where the population has increased by about 48% since 2010, according to census data — cities across the county have mirrored that protest jump: Residential property protests in Frisco increased the most — by 13.59% from the amount of protests filed in 2014 compared to amount filed in 2023. Likewise, Allen protests increased by 11.39%, Plano protests increased by 11.36%, McKinney protests increased by 9.6% and Prosper protests increased by 5.35%, all over the same time period.
In 2014 the average market value of a Collin County home was $257,767, according to the Collin Central Appraisal District, while in 2022 the average market value reached $513,136, a figure that has nearly doubled in less than 10 years as protests have mirrored a similar increase.
“There’s a lot of merit to it,” said McKinney Mayor George Fuller of people contesting the market value of their homes. “With the increasing values of homes at a far greater rate and pace and wages and everything else going up, it’s causing quite an issue. For a lot of people it can be make or break. I certainly don’t fault them, and all the power to them, and I hope they are successful.”
Mayor Fuller and Allen Mayor Baine Brooks, charged with $22,604.34 and $10,270.86 tax bills for 2022, respectively — according to the Collin County Tax Assessor-Collector — disputed their values this year.
Fuller and Brooks were the only two mayors in the county’s major hubs to protest the value of their homes this year. Brooks is the only mayor who went before the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) for a hearing. Fuller settled on an amount with the appraiser and signed a settlement and waiver, forgoing the right to a board hearing. Fuller said everyone should do what they think is right.
“Hopefully every resident does if they feel they should,” Fuller said of residents protesting.
Brooks noted that all property owners in Texas have the right to protest the appraised value of their property if they believe it is inaccurate, unequal to like properties, or missing qualified exemptions.
checked the status of three other mayors whose property values increased this year and found that mayors in Prosper, Frisco and Plano did not contest their values, as some of those mayors noted that they could sell their home for more in the future if they didn’t contest the value today.
A look at Allen, McKinney mayor protests
Brooks’ Allen home was appraised for $663,213 this year, according to Collin Central Appraisal District. The home is 3,049 square-feet, according to Zillow. While Brooks contested, the market value of the home — as ordered by the Appraisal Review Board after a protest hearing — did not change.
However, because Brooks has a homestead exemption — which outlines that the assessed value may not increase more than 10% per year — the amount that he will pay taxes on is $571,518, about a 10% increase from last year.
Since 2007, Brooks has protested the market value of his home seven times. He has successfully protested three times, according to Collin Central Appraisal District. He bought the home, then valued at $218,895, in 2004.
The last time Brooks protested the market value of his home was in 2017, when his property was valued at $404,019.
Fuller also protested the appraised value of his 4,360 square-foot home this year.
The market value of the property was appraised at $1,392,218, Fuller said. After contesting it, the value was lowered to $1,325,000, however because Fuller has a homestead exemption the amount that he will pay taxes on did not change after contesting. The assessed value of his home that he will pay taxes on is $1,275,340, a full 10% increase from last year.
“They did reduce it some, but not below the $1,275,340, so it didn’t save me anything,” Fuller said. “I paid 100% of the taxes that they are legally able to charge me no matter what the market or appraised value was. If I could have gotten mine reduced to $1.1 million, if I felt it was worth that and I saved taxes, I would do that. I’m entitled to do that just like everybody else.”
Fuller settled the protest dispute with a signed settlement and waiver, choosing not to go before the Appraisal Review Board for a hearing. Fuller said he has never gone before the ARB for a hearing to protest further. He is estimated to pay $26,553.64 in property taxes this year, he said.
“I certainly feel that I would have been justified if I did,” Fuller said of protesting further. “But life is busy, I’m too focused on the city as a whole. I just didn’t take the time to do it.”
Since 2016, Fuller has protested the appraised value of his home seven times. He has successfully protested four times. Twice, in 2017 and 2020, the protest was withdrawn before any action was taken, according to the Collin Central Appraisal District.
Fuller bought the home, then valued at $512,784, in 2015.
Fuller said protesting the value notice— the original value appraised by the appraisal district — of his home is a process he goes through each year if he feels his home has been overvalued.
This year, of the residential appraisal review board hearings in Collin County, 32.97% were successful. Similarly, Allen had 41.03% successful appraisal review board hearings, while Prosper had 40.25%, Plano had 38.08%, McKinney had 29.96% and Frisco had 27.74% successful hearings.
Looking to deal with rising property taxes
Both Allen and McKinney have proposed to lower the property tax rate for the coming fiscal year. Allen has a proposed rate of $0.4205, a $.0007 decrease from the city’s current tax rate of $0.4212. Meanwhile, McKinney’s city manager has proposed a more significant decrease in the tax rate by 3 cents — from $0.457485 to $0.427513 per $100 valuation. The city’s council members will vote on the proposed budget and tax rates in September.
“Historically, our philosophy for setting a tax rate is to adequately fund all city operations and provide consistent levels of service based on the lowest tax rate possible,” Allen mayor Brooks said. “This is challenging as we must consider needs from roadways to playgrounds to public safety and in Allen, we are still balancing needs for both aging infrastructure and new growth.”
Mayor Fuller also pointed to the challenge of balancing resident needs like parks, amenities and safety with an adequate tax rate.
“A fiscally responsible city delivers the level of service that the residents expect for the least amount that they can,” Fuller said. “We’re dealing with a world of double digit inflation, so if you’re averaging somewhere around 1.5% or under 2% increase in revenue when all your costs are much higher than that, then you’re doing a hell of a good job.”
Some mayors cite benefits of rising market values
Other Collin County city mayors did not contest the appraised value of their homes this year and have done so sparingly in the past.
In 2023, Plano Mayor John Muns did not protest the market value of his home, according to the Collin Central Appraisal District. The last, and only, time Muns protested the market value of his property, according to Collin CAD, was in 2015 when he signed a settlement and waiver that agreed upon his home being worth $990,000. The initial appraisal in 2015 valued Muns’ home at $996,769.
Muns purchased the home in 1993, when it was valued at $728,062. In 2023, his home is valued at $1,478,762. Muns was charged with $24,923.80 in taxes for 2022. The home is 5,657 square-feet, according to Zillow. He did not provide comment to The News.
Mayor of Frisco Jeff Cheney says he’s never contested the market value of his home, yet he “encourages” residents to use the county process, if they feel their market value is not representative.
Likewise, Prosper Mayor David Bristol said he has never contested the market value of his home, and said doing so could be an imprudent strategy for homeowners thinking of reselling their home one day.
“If your appraised value of your house goes up, that means your market value goes up and you could probably sell it for a lot more,” Bristol said.
Bristol said his city, along with legislators in Austin, have worked to bring property tax relief. Prosper recently increased its homestead exemption from 12.5% to 15%, he said.
“There is relief coming both from the state legislature and then local municipalities,” Bristol said.