Comptroller Strayhorn Releases 2003 Property Value StudyFinal Value Findings Total $1.06 Trillion
Comptroller's Report Reminder to Register for Conference Attorney General Opinions Property Tax Technical Assistance Texas Appellate Court Cases Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn certified the final determination of school property values—based on the appraisal date of January 1, 2003—to Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley on June 30, 2004.
Texas school districts’ taxable property values totaled almost $1.06 trillion in 2003, an increase of more than 4 percent or roughly $43 billion more taxable value than in 2002. Independent school district (ISD) property values are up for the 11th year in a row, based on numbers from the Texas Comptroller’s property value study (PVS). School property values have continued to rise since the 1992 study findings.
For tax year 2003, taxable values increased in 764 school districts, with an average increase in value of almost 8 percent. In comparison, 819 school districts had an average increase in value of more than 11 percent in tax year 2002.
Values declined in 285 districts by an average of less than 6 percent from 2002 to 2003. In the preceding study, values declined by an average of less than 7 percent in 233 school districts.
Property Value Study
The Education Code requires the Texas Education Agency to use the Texas Comptroller’s annual estimates of individual school district taxable wealth to determine state aid payments. Copies of the Comptroller’s findings may be obtained by ordering the agency’s School and Appraisal Districts’ Property Value Study – 2003 Final Report. Individual school and appraisal district findings are also available on the Comptroller's Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/pvs03f/.
Comptroller Strayhorn sends a copy of the final report to the Texas Legislature, each county appraisal district, school district, county tax office and certain taxpayers.
While there are 1,031 school districts, the Comptroller’s certification is for 1,049 districts because some school districts’ values are divided among more than one appraisal district.
For questions about the PVS results or a copy of the final report, send an e-mail to the Comptroller’s Property Tax Division (PTD) at ptd.cpa@cpa.state.tx.us or call 1-800-252-9121, ext. 5-9839. In Austin, call 512/305-9999.
The study findings vary from the preliminary findings released in February 2003, because school districts, appraisal districts and certain taxpayers with property in the study filed appeals and corrections with the PTD.
Grace period
The Comptroller certified the school district’s local tax roll values in 1,038 of the 1,049 school districts studied. They accounted for about $1.05 trillion in taxable value, or more than 99 percent of the total taxable value in Texas.
The final findings had 54 of these 1,038 school districts within the new “grace period” provided by Senate Bill (S.B.) 671. These 54 districts represent about $22 billion in taxable value. S.B. 671 provides a two-year reprieve to certain school districts from the funding effects of state value findings in the annual study.
The new law requires the Comptroller to conduct a mandatory appraisal standards review of the appraisal district with school districts under the “grace period.” See the list of the 40 appraisal districts that perform appraisals for these 54 ISDs. These 40 appraisal districts will have an appraisal standards review. For more information, see the May/June 2004 Statement for the procedures for conducting the reviews and the November 2003 Statement about S.B. 671.
In 11 of the 1,049 studied districts, local tax roll values were below the agency’s 5-percent margin of error and did not meet the criteria for the new grace period. The Comptroller certified the state value determination for those 11 districts at almost $6 billion.
Exemptions
The final 2003 study findings also showed that school districts’ exemptions and abatements increased more than 3 percent from the final 2002 study. The total 2003 amount exceeded $149 billion and was more than $4 billion above 2002.
Homestead exemptions accounted for about 85 percent of all exemptions. Those exemptions include the state mandated $15,000 exemption for general homeowners, the state-mandated $10,000 exemption for disabled or elderly homeowners, the school tax ceiling (or freeze) for over-65 homeowners, the capped value on homesteads and the deferred homestead payments.
Government Code Section 403.302 specifies the exemptions and productivity value loss for special appraisals that the Comptroller deducts from market value to determine the taxable value of property in school districts.
Property categories
The final 2003 study, before exemptions, revealed an increase of more than 8 percent in the value of single-family residences, following an increase of almost 11 percent in 2002 and 12 percent in 2001. This category is the largest in appraised value, representing 49 percent of the total school district appraised values. Ten years ago, in the 1994 PVS, this category represented 40 percent of the total school district values.
Multi-family residences values increased more than 3 percent in 2003, following a 6-percent increase in 2002.
Changes in business properties’ values varied, depending on the type. Commercial real property increased about 3 percent, following an increase of 4 percent from last year. Industrial real property saw appraised values decrease more than 4 percent, following less than a 1-percent increase in 2002.
Industrial personal property gained slightly more than 2 percent, compared to a 3-percent decrease in 2002. Commercial personal property stayed almost flat, with less than a 1-percent decrease.
Utilities decreased more than 5 percent in value from 2002 to 2003, after an increase of almost 5 percent in 2002.
Oil, gas and minerals have seen both ups and downs in recent years. This category dropped for the second year in a row by more than 3 percent. It dropped almost 8 percent in value in 2002 but saw double digit increases of 14 percent in 2000 and 56 percent in 2001.
Residential inventory, which is residential property held for sale by the developer, experienced a third year of increase in value by more than 16 percent.
Special inventory, which is inventory value of motor vehicle, boat, heavy equipment and manufactured housing that dealers are required to report to appraisal districts and county tax offices, decreased about 2 percent.
Intangible personal and uncertified property included miscellaneous properties listed on the local tax rolls.
Statewide School District Taxable Values
2002 vs. 2003 (in billions)
Property Category 2002 Final Value 2003 Final Value % Change $ Change A Single-family Residences $548.01 $593.67 8.33% $45.65 B Multi-family Residences 53.58 55.25 3.11 1.67 C Vacant Lots 25.84 27.40 6.06 1.56 D Rural Real 51.77 53.82 3.98 2.06 F1 Commercial Real 169.03 174.78 3.41 5.76 F2 Industrial Real 70.37 67.43 -4.19 -2.95 G Oil, Gas, Minerals 40.94 39.47 -3.58 -1.47 J Utilities 41.07 38.89 -5.32 -2.17 L1 Commercial Personal 86.51 86.31 -0.24 0.21 L2 Industrial Personal 54.35 55.59 2.27 1.23 M Other Personal 5.44 5.36 -1.58 -0.09 N Intangible Personal & Uncertified * 5.42 1.21 -77.57 -4.20 O Residential Inventory 4.20 4.90 16.54 0.69 S Special Inventory 3.61 3.51 -2.63 -0.09 Subtotals $1,160.15 $1,207.59 4.09% $47.44 Homestead $15,000 $63.31 $65.55 3.54% $2.24 Homestead $10,000 10.91 11.24 3.07 0.33 Disabled Veteran 1.23 1.31 6.05 0.07 10% Capped Homesteads 14.16 10.91 -22.95 -3.25 65+ Tax Ceiling Loss Value 35.19 38.56 9.58 3.37 Abatements 0.17 0.06 -64.83 -0.11 Tax Increment Financing 4.18 4.95 18.34 0.77 Freeport Exemption 10.00 10.84 8.37 0.84 Pollution Control 5.13 5.48 6.97 0.36 Deferred Payment 0.44 0.63 43.14 0.19 Other Exemptions 0.24 0.20 -18.23 -0.04 Less Total Exemptions $144.96 $149.73 3.29% $4.77 Total Taxable Value $1,015.19 $1,057.86 4.20% $42.67 NOTE: Totals may not add because numbers are rounded.
* Not a valid comparison because reporting procedures changed from 2002 to 2003.
Source: Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Property Tax Division.
Appraisal district findingsCounty appraisal districts continue to appraise property with uniform results and close to market value, according to the 2003 final results. Appraisal districts achieved a study result of 99 percent of market value.
State law requires tax appraisals to be equal, uniform and at market value. The median appraisal ratio measures how close an appraisal district’s typical appraisal is to market value. The coefficient of dispersion (COD) measures appraisal uniformity, whether properties are being appraised at an equal percentage of market value. The statewide COD was 11.38, better than the previous year’s 11.49.
The tables below show the statewide median appraisal ratios and the statewide coefficients of dispersion from 1993 to 2003.
Statewide Median Appraisal Ratios
1993 through 2003 Property Value StudiesThe table below compares the statewide median appraisal ratios from the 1993 to 2003 Property Value Studies. The statewide median appraisal ratio for an individual property category was calculated using the appraisal ratios of all Property Tax Division sample properties in that category from across the state. The overall statewide median appraisal ratio was calculated using the appraisal ratios for all sample properties. Property Category 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 A. Single-family Residences 98% 98% 98% 97% 97% 98% 98% 98% 97% 98% 99% B. Multi-family Residences 100% 99% 99% 99% 98% 99% 98% 98% 99% 98% 98% C. Vacant Lots 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% D. Rural Real 100%* 100%* 100%* 99%* 98%* 98%* 98%* 98%* 98%* 99%* 99%* E. Farm & Ranch Improvements * * * * * * * * * * * F1. Commercial Real 100% 100% 100% 99% 99% 99% 98% 97% 98% 98% 98% F2. Industrial Real ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** G. Oil, Gas, Minerals 104% 103% 102% 102% 101% 100% 102% 103% 99% 101% 100% J. Utilities 100% 101% 102% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% L1. Commercial Personal 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% L2. Industrial Personal ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** M. Other Personal ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** O. Residential Inventory ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** OVERALL 99% 99% 100% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 100% 99% * Beginning in 1989, taxable values for Farm & Ranch Improvements (Category E) were merged into Category D with Acreage (market value).
** Too few sample observations were available to produce meaningful statewide median appraisal ratios for these properties.
Statewide Coefficients of Dispersion
1993 through 2003 Property Value StudiesThe table below compares the statewide coefficients of dispersion from the 1993 to 2003 Property Value Studies. The statewide coefficient of dispersion for an individual property category was calculated using the appraisal ratios of all Property Tax Division sample properties in that category from across the state. The overall statewide coefficient of dispersion was calculated using the appraisal ratios for all sample properties. Property Category 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 A. Single-family Residences 12.93 10.74 12.11 11.36 11.06 9.68 9.23 10.05 10.68 10.33 9.48 B. Multi-family Residences 12.66 8.38 10.06 8.43 7.71 7.34 7.63 7.70 8.91 8.74 10.49 C. Vacant Lots 22.01 19.27 18.21 19.86 17.10 15.17 13.68 14.79 17.29 18.50 18.07 D. Rural Real 16.31* 18.49* 14.92* 14.60* 15.62* 16.09* 14.51* 14.96* 15.64* 15.01* 16.65* E. Farm & Ranch Improvements * * * * * * * * * * * F1. Commercial Real 14.38 12.59 13.28 11.34 11.01 10.51 10.59 10.56 10.39 9.82 10.93 F2. Industrial Real ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** G. Oil, Gas, Minerals 11.20 13.01 12.61 18.95 4.85 7.38 20.52 7.15 31.30 11.50 10.46 J. Utilities 14.18 14.35 12.50 ME 10.76 9.64 12.78 12.26 12.00 11.72 11.66 L1. Commercial Personal 10.83 8.14 11.95 20.73 11.20 9.24 7.52 8.19 8.32 8.44 8.21 L2. Industrial Personal ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** M. Other Personal ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** O. Residential Inventory ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** OVERALL 13.97 12.86 13.17 13.47 11.64 10.86 11.79 11.53 12.26 11.49 11.38 * Beginning in 1989, taxable values for Farm & Ranch Improvements (Category E) were merged into Category D with Acreage (market value).
** Too few sample observations were available to produce meaningful statewide coefficients of disperson for these properties.
Source: Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Property Tax Division
List of 40 Appraisal Districts Set for Appraisal Standards Review One of the first steps for the appraisal districts set for an appraisal standards review will be to complete and return to the Texas Comptroller’s Property Tax Division the International Association of Assessing Officers’ Assessment Practices Self-Evaluation Guide. The Comptroller will provide the Guide free of charge. Anderson Duval Kaufman Sabine Archer Erath Kendall Starr Atascosa Glasscock Lee Travis Bosque Hamilton Mason Trinity Brazoria Hansford McMullen Upshur Brewster Harrison Nueces Val Verde Comanche Hunt Orange Victoria Cooke Jack Rains Wharton Coryell Jefferson Rockwall Williamson Collingsworth Johnson Rusk Wood
Statement
September 2004
September 2004