THE SPECTATOR: PROPERTY VALUATIONS
This Sunday, June 30th, is the deadline for the owners of commercial property in Washington County to file a protest over their property valuation. Just as the Washington County Tax Appraisal Office did with residential property, they’ve increased the appraised value of commercial property by ridiculous percentages in just one year. Our company alone has seen increases of between 242% and 414% on the appraised value of land. Thank goodness the Texas Legislature put in a cap of 20% increase for non-homestead property this year, otherwise our taxes would be doubled or even quadrupled. Appraisers seem to have lost any perspective of the logical and sane. I’ve even had an appraiser for Burleson County argue with me that a 32-year-old communications tower can appreciate in value based on the cost to build a new one. Really? An old tower becomes more valuable over time, even as its lifespan gets shorter? That logic is a tough sell, at least to me.
Yes, I realize that our local tax appraisal offices are under pressure from the State to constantly increase property values. But when does it end? You can’t just arbitrarily assign the same dollar amount per square foot to every piece of land in an area, when each has its own characteristics. The appraisers will tell you they follow a formula and that there is a method to this madness. But to me, I don’t see it. Once of our buildings downtown has seen a 708% increase in valuation in just 5 years! If you are not happy with your commercial property valuation, I encourage you to take a few minutes and file a protest. You have through this Sunday to do it.
And that’s the way it looks to this Spectator.